2024 Survey Administration Dates
February 26, 2024, through April 12, 2024: Student School Climate Survey
February 26, 2024, through April 12, 2024: Teacher School Climate Survey
February 26, 2024, through April 12, 2024: Parent and Guardian School Climate Survey
This page provides information for school year 2023-2024 related to operating Ecollect and administering School Climate Surveys.
Memos
Documentation and Training
Frequently Asked Questions
How many types of School Climate Surveys are there?
There are three, and they may be referred to as follows:
- the “Student Survey”
- the “Teacher Survey”
- the “Parent and Guardian Survey”
Why are these surveys being administered?
Please see the 2023-24 Accountability Manual for School Report Cards (updated January 5, 2024) available on the Education Oversight Committee’s Accountability Manuals page which specifies usage of Climate Survey responses in calculating School Report Card metrics.
Will Parent and Guardian School Climate Surveys be used in the School Climate rating calculation for school report cards?
The participation rate for the Parent and Guardian School Climate Survey is not part of the calculation for an indicator, however, some data about the Parent and Guardian School Climate Survey results is posted on the report card.
How will School Climate Surveys be administered this year? How are they accessed and submitted by student, teacher/eligible staff, and parent/guardian respondents?
The Student Survey and the Teacher Survey will be released directly to student and teacher (or eligible staff) respondents to complete and submit through an Ecollect Form accessible through Student Portal (for students) and Teacher Portal (for teachers/eligible staff).
The Parent Survey will be administered through Qualtrics, and links to the Qualtrics survey will be available through Ecollect; an Ecollect form will be delivered to parents, accessible through Parent Portal, that provides the Qualtrics survey link (one link per student associated with the parent or guardian).
Please see the Accessing Ecollect Forms for South Carolina’s 2024 SCDE School Climate Surveys document for instructions on how respondents (students, teachers, and parents) will access their respective 2024 SCDE School Climate Surveys.
Note that URLs for accessing PowerSchool portals (i.e., the PowerSchool Parent/Student Portal and Teacher Portal) vary from district to district; typically, in place of the word “admin,” Parent/Student Portal URLs include either the word “public” or “guardian,” and the word “teachers” is typically present in the case of Teacher Portal URLs.
Will SCDE provide schools with anonymous School Climate Survey responses?
Yes, the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) provides anonymous teacher and student survey result reports to schools using responses from all teachers and students who completed their respective surveys, not just those in continuous employment/enrollment. Parent Survey results are also provided to schools.
Who completes the Teacher School Climate Survey?
Please see the 2023-24 Accountability Manual for School Report Cards (updated January 5, 2024) available on the Education Oversight Committee’s Accountability Manuals page, and do a Ctrl+f search within the document for “What Teachers are Included in the Indicator” to view the specifics information provided.
As defined in the 2023-24 Accountability Manual for School Report Cards (updated January 5, 2024), “For the purposes of the School Climate indicator, teachers are defined as professional certified staff (PCS) eligible to receive teacher supply monies per the most current code list posted at /finance/financial-services/pcs-information/.”
Individuals with the following position codes should complete a survey:
03 – Special Education (Itinerant) Teachers
04 – Prekindergarten (Child Development) Teachers
05 – Kindergarten Teachers
06 – Special Education (Self-Contained) Teachers
07 – Special Education (Resource) Teachers
08 – Classroom Teachers
09 – Retired Teachers
10 – Library Media Specialists/School Librarians
11 – Guidance Counselors
17 – Speech Therapists
18 – ROTC Instructors
23 – In-school Career Specialists
SCEducator should be updated with correct employment dates, FTE, and Position Codes as these are the elements that will determine who counts for accountability for teachers. Additionally, please note that these data elements do not currently live in PowerSchool – they must be updated in SCEducator, and PowerSchool Teacher Portal accounts generated for the purposes of School Climate Surveys should be created only for those that should have survey access based on that information.
How can districts and schools know if surveys are being completed by respondents – is there any way to gauge this?
Districts cannot see School Climate Survey responses in PowerSchool, but two separate tools are available to assist with gauging Teacher Survey and Student Survey response activity:
- SCDE School Climate Survey Response Reports
These reports have been designed specifically for School Climate Surveys and are filterable and downloadable. There are two reports available that can be run from the district level (for one or more schools within the district) and from the school level (for a given school): the Students Climate Survey Response Report and the Teacher Climate Survey Response Report.
- Category Completion Reports
The Category Completion Reports within PowerSchool were available last year but have been enhanced to improve usability with School Climate Surveys in mind. It is now possible to filter down to a specific survey from the Category Completion Report. Additionally, subsets of students or staff may be selected from PowerSchool’s native selection functionality from the Start page, and that subset may be viewed from within the Category Completion Report.
How many responses are accepted for each survey?
Only one response is accepted for a given School Climate Survey.
- Student Survey:
Only one response per student is accepted. The Student Survey Ecollect form will clear upon submission (responses are encrypted upon submission and do not remain on the screen). No additional responses will be accepted.
- Teacher Survey:
For teacher (or eligible staff) respondents who serve at multiple schools, one response may be submitted by the teacher/staff member per associated school. The Parent Survey Ecollect form will clear upon submission for a given school (responses are encrypted upon submission and do not remain on the screen). No additional responses will be accepted by a teacher/staff member for a given school; after a submission, a response may be submitted for a different school if applicable.
- Parent and Guardian Survey:
A parent or guardian with Parent Portal access associated with a student may respond to the Parent and Guardian Survey, but only one response per student will be accepted.
Who can I reach out to for technical assistance with Ecollect surveys?
To report technical issues and request support related to Ecollect during this survey administration window, district-level technical contacts should open a ticket at https://www.powerschool.com/support/.
If a ticket is submitted to PowerSchool reporting an issue related to School Climate Surveys, please also reach out to PowerSchool@ed.sc.gov to provide the Data Collection Team with the ticket/case number so that the team can assist with case escalations during the survey window.
Here are some steps that can be taken to submit a PowerSchool support case for an issue related to School Climate Survey forms in Ecollect:
- Go to the PowerSchool Case Portal and log in: https://help.powerschool.com/t5/Case-Portal/ct-p/Support-CasePortal
- Click the "New Case" button.
- From the "Product" dropdown, select Ecollect Forms
- Type anything in the field below that; then wait a second until the "Continue to Case Creation" button appears (if necessary, click the magnifying glass search icon to make that button appear at the bottom of the page).
- Click the "Continue to Case Creation" button.
- In the "Account" field, select your district's account.
- In the "Subject" field, type a subject such as: Ecollect forms - SC school district issue
- In the "Product" field, select Ecollect Forms
- In the "Priority" field, select the most appropriate category for the given issue.
- In the "Business Impact" field, select Business Critical
- In the "Description" field, describe your issue providing as much detail as possible, including screenshots to clarify the issue.
- Send your Support Case number to the SCDE Data Collection Team at PowerSchool@ed.sc.gov so that the team can escalate any issues having to do with Ecollect forms for the duration of the School Climate Survey window.
- When a PowerSchool agent reaches out to assist you, respond to their outreach and work with them to resolve your issue.
- Please notify the Data Collection Team at SCDE of your resolution by emailing PowerSchool@ed.sc.gov so that the team can ensure that districts are supported as efficiently as possible during this time.
