Loaded question on a student survey | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Loaded question on a student survey | Gary Rubinstein's Blog:

Loaded question on a student survey

by Gary Rubinstein

In New York City schools get an annual ‘progress report’ grade from A to F.  Schools with an F, D, or three consecutive Cs can be slated for closure, and many school have suffered this fate, with about twenty more fighting for their lives this year.  The progress report is based on test scores and, in part, on parent, teacher, and student surveys.
I came across this poster recently with an example of one of the questions from the student survey.

This is the problem, I think, with student surveys.  Too much depends on the wording of the questions.  In this case the question is phrased in such a way that the majority of students will answer negatively.  Then this can be used as evidence by the New York City school closers (led by TFA alum Marc Sternberg) that the school deserves to be shut down.
One issue is the word ‘adults’ which is generally said in a negative way by reformers as in “We have a system that is good for the adults, but not for the kids.”  But on a literal level ‘adults’ includes all staff like maintenance