Construct Irrelevant Variance

  • Survey may be difficult for ESL students and students on ISPs (with reading/writing goals);
  • Cultural values and norms need to be addressed;
  • Students who “care too much” or “don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings” may not give accurate responses;
  • Narrative inquiry may not reflect honest responses from participants if I am the interviewer (must be reflexive);
  • Self-reflection by teachers may not be 100% reflective as it is tied to the TQS (which must be met in its entirety);
  • Monthly student reflection may not demonstrate accurate results from students that struggle with writing or expressing themselves in a written format.

Construct Underrepresentation

  • Students caring for other students, parents, administration and senior administration have been bracketed out of this construct however it is important to acknowledge that all of these stakeholders are vital to the evaluation of a safe, caring and welcoming school.
  • The research completed for this project strictly focused on students and teachers.
  • It is difficult for students’ to measure teacher knowledge. They may subjectively assess knowledge but it is not a definitive measure. More assessment methods need to be identified for assessing teacher knowledge in a way that does not make them feel vulnerable.
  • School culture is also a very subjective area, but one that warrants significant attention as noted from the research.

Consequential Validity

Positive Outcomes May Include:
  • Quality data delineating what ‘care’ means and exactly why (or why not) students feel safe and cared for at school;
  • Balances out accountability pillar survey results with achievement portion;
  • Respond to student voices to create a safe, caring and welcoming environment;
  • Increase in student achievement;
  • Increase in student attendance rate;
  • Professional development and school programs can be effectively linked to students needs of care and safety;
  • Strong data to present to senior administration and board members
Negative Outcomes May Include:
  • Inaccurate or ‘teacher targeting’ data needs to be filtered;
  • Narrowing of new programs as they may not align with improvement of students’ perceptions of safe, caring and welcoming schools;