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

Consortium researchers used 15 years of data from 100 public elementary schools in Chicago and found that school organization is most important for improvement. Schools strong on at least 3 of 5 “essential supports” of school organization were 10 times more likely to show substantial gains in student learning than schools weak on three or more essential supports.

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.

To help schools understand their strengths and areas for improvement, Consortium researchers developed the 5Essentials Survey. It was first used in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in 1991. Students and teachers continue to take annual surveys in CPS. They answer multiple-choice questions, called items. Answers to items are grouped into measures and essentials so that teachers and leaders can reflect on trends, patterns, strengths, and areas for improvement. The student survey includes questions about students’ experiences, attitudes, and activities in school. 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.

5Essentials Surveys and Early Ed Essentials Surveys are Comprised of Essentials, Measures, and Items

5Essentials Framework

After seeing how helpful it was for Chicago principals, teachers, families, and students, the UChicago Consortium teamed up with UChicago Impact to help other schools and districts utilize the survey to evaluate their school organization efforts. To date, the 5Essentials Survey has been administered to more than 5,000,000 students, teachers, and parents in nearly 6,000 schools across the country, and has inspired work as far away as Chile and South Africa. In some districts and states, including Chicago and Illinois, the results of the 5Essentials Surveys are then available publicly in the form of school reports.

5Essentials Surveys At A Glance:

Who takes the surveys?

The 5Essentials Survey includes both a teacher survey and a student survey. The teacher survey is open to all teachers in in grades pre-k-12, as well as other select staff members at schools. The student survey is open to students in grades 4-12.

How are the survey results used?

In some districts and states, including Chicago and Illinois, the school-level results of the 5Essentials surveys are available publicly in the form of school reports. In Chicago, survey results are also used as part of a school’s quality score (SQRP). Starting in 2018, Illinois will use participation on the 5Essentials to fulfill its fifth indicator requirement under ESSA.

Can my school take the survey?

If you are interested in using the 5Essentials Survey, please contact us ccsr-survey@uchicago.edu.

Early Education Essentials Surveys

Like K-12 schools, early childhood programs can benefit from a research-backed tool to measure their organizational conditions and provide actionable information to use to design improvement strategies. Starting in 2014, researchers from the UChicago Consortium and Start Early adapted the 5Essentials Teacher Survey for early childhood education programs. In addition, the UChicago Consortium and Start Early developed a parent survey to be administered as part of the Early Education Essentials in lieu of a student survey. A validation study testing these surveys revealed that parents offer a unique perspective that is best captured by a distinct, sixth essential, called Parent Voice. This addition of a parent survey and the Parent Voice essential is unique to the Early Education Essentials framework—the 5Essentials surveys include only a teacher and a student survey.

The six “essentials” for program improvement in early childhood education settings are:

Effective Instructional 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.
Parent Voice Parents feel included as a partner in their child’s learning and development, including influence over programming.

The Early Education Essentials teacher/staff and parent surveys were examined in a validation study in 2018, conducted in partnership with Start Early. The study found the new surveys capture reliable, valid, and credible information on the organizational climate and conditions of both school- and community-based early childhood education settings. This six-page Early Education Essentials snapshot explains 1) how the surveys were developed and tested for reliability and validity, 2) how survey results compared to site visit observations, and 3) key considerations for early education leaders as they leverage the Early Education Essentials surveys.

Early Ed Essentials

In addition to the surveys, Early Education Essentials also includes data-use and rapid-cycle improvement tools, which help guide leaders in using survey data to identify what steps they can take collaboratively with staff to improve weak areas.

Early Education Essentials Surveys At a Glance

Who takes the surveys?

The Early Education Essentials includes both a teacher/staff survey and a parent survey. All parents of preschool or Head Start students enrolled in the participating school/center are eligible to participate in the parent survey. All teachers and staff who work with preschool/Head Start students or their families (including assistant teachers, aides, and support staff like family engagement specialists) are eligible to take the teacher/staff survey.

How are the survey results used?

The Early Education Essentials results help leaders and staff diagnose the health of their program's organizational conditions found essential to continuous improvement of teaching and learning. Leaders and staff equipped with this information are positioned to strengthen their organizational climate, structures, and practices and realize sustained improvements in the quality of early childhood teaching, learning, and family engagement. In addition, accompanying data-use and rapid-cycle improvement tools are available for programs interested in engaging in structured professional development and continuous quality improvement using the survey data. Visit https://www.startearly.org/resource/the-essential-survey/ or email ResearchTeam@StartEarly.org for more information.

Can my program/site take the survey?

The Early Education Essentials measurement system, now called The Essential 0-5 Survey, includes teacher/staff and parent surveys and data-use and rapid-cycle improvement tools. It is available nationwide for administration in schools, districts, and centers. Visit https://www.startearly.org/resource/the-essential-survey/ or email ResearchTeam@StartEarly.org for more information.

Other Surveys

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.