5Essentials FAQ | UChicago Consortium on School Research

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5Essentials FAQs

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Cultivate Survey

The Cultivate system draws on research showing that the learning conditions in a classroom have profound implications for students’ development—they shape students’ daily experiences, learning beliefs, learning and academic success, and well-being.

The nine Learning Conditions that matter for students’ development are:

Affirming Identities: Recognition and affirmation of student identities
Classroom Community: Sense of community and mutual support among classmates
Feedback for Growth: Nature and quality of teacher feedback to improve student work
Learning Goals: Accessibility and connectedness of instructional goals
Meaningful Work: Interest and relevance of classroom learning for students
Student Voice: Opportunities for and responsiveness to student ideas and input
Supportive Teaching: Breadth and quality of teacher’s instructional support for learning
Teacher Caring: Strength and quality of teacher’s one-on-one relationships with students
Well-Organized Classroom: Clarity and helpfulness of classroom systems and routines

Cultivate gives students the opportunity to provide feedback on each of these dimensions in one of their core classes. The survey also asks students to share what they believe about themselves as learners in that same class. Are they able to report:

I am valued
I am empowered
I am capable
I can grow
I find class purposeful

Cultivate Supports
To provide clear and actionable data and insights, the Consortium Learning & Development Group partnered with UChicago Impact, in consultation with educators, to create a dynamic online reporting system that helps educators explore students’ perspectives, respond to their students’ experiences, build relationships, and partner with students for improvement.

Ultimately, the goal is for educators to use their Cultivate report as a starting point to engage in conversation with colleagues and—crucially—with students. To this end, the reports feature a suite of support tools for each Learning Condition—including detailed guides with research and recommendations, protocols for participatory data analysis, and observation checklists.

5Essentials Surveys

The 5Essentials Survey defines and measures important organizational conditions within a school that affect student outcomes. It has been validated and refined through decades of research.

Both strength in 5Essentials Survey measures and improvement in measures during the course of the year are predictive of improved student outcomes in schools. This is true:

In both high- and low-poverty schools, at both the elementary and high school level
On student outcomes including attendance, test scores, GPA, Freshman OnTrack, and college enrollment

The five “essential supports” for school improvement are:

Effective Leaders The principal works with teachers to implement a clear and strategic vision for school success.
Collaborative Teachers The staff is committed to the school, receives strong professional development, and works together to improve the school.
Involved Families The entire school staff builds strong relationships with families and communities to support learning.
Supportive Environment The school is safe and orderly. Teachers have high expectations for students. Students are supported by their teachers and peers.
Ambitious Instruction Classes are academically demanding and engage students by emphasizing the application of knowledge.

5Essentials Surveys provide yearly opportunities for teachers and students to share their experiences. Answers to questions are grouped into measures and essentials so that teachers and leaders can reflect on trends, patterns, strengths, areas for improvement, and progress to goals.

The teacher survey includes questions about instruction, professional development, and the school as a workplace. A primer on making measures from the survey questions is available here.
The student survey includes questions about students’ experiences, attitudes, and activities in school.

To date, the 5Essentials Survey has been administered to more than 5,000,000 teachers and students in nearly 6,000 schools across the country, and has inspired work internationally, including in Chile, England, and South Africa. In some districts and states, including Chicago and Illinois, the results of the 5Essentials Surveys are available publicly in the form of school reports.

Diagram of the 5Essentials Survey.

Other Surveys

The Essential 0-5 Survey

Like K-12 schools, early childhood programs can benefit from a research-backed tool to measure their organizational conditions and provide actionable information leaders and educators can use to design improvement strategies. Researchers from the UChicago Consortium and Start Early adapted the 5Essentials Survey for early childhood education programs.

The Essential 0-5 Survey (initially called the Early Education Essentials Survey) captures reliable, valid, and credible information on the organizational climate and conditions of both school- and community-based early childhood education settings. It includes both a teacher/staff survey and a parent survey.

Learn more about The Essential 0-5 Survey and the research behind it.

Administrator Survey

The UChicago Consortium administrator survey—different from the 5Essentials surveys given to teachers and students annually in Chicago—has been administered 14 times in the spring since 1992 to provide insights into administrators’ perceptions on key aspects of their work. These surveys have provided insights for Consortium reports on REACH and Common Core, and have helped foster a deeper understanding of administrators’ experiences across Chicago. The UChicago Consortium has also published two reports focused on trends and findings from these surveys: The Challenges Facing CPS Administrators: Roadblocks to School Improvement in 2019, and The Work of Chicago Public Schools Principals in 2008. Future updates about the administrator survey will be posted as they become available.