SWYS 2001 News - Teachers & Parents
Play Positive Role in School Performance
Southwest Wisconsin Teens Who Strongly Agree or Agree
Eighty percent of 7th through 12th graders in southwest Wisconsin
say their teachers have high expectations of them and 78% say
their teachers respect them and listen to their opinions. Twenty-nine
percent of 7th and 8th graders say the cost of participation
in school activities keeps them from participating as much as
they would like to. Parents can play a positive role in the grades
teens earn at school at school by providing a quiet place to
study and expressing interest in what their teen learns in school
and how they are doing in their course work. Twenty-eight percent
of teens say they have had personal property stolen or deliberately
damaged at school in the past year.
Those are among the findings of the Southwest Wisconsin Youth Survey (SWYS)
survey conducted by 19 of 31 school districts in the Cooperative Educational
Service Agency (CESA) District 3 as reported by UW-Extension. The school districts
of Argyle, Barneveld, Benton, Belmont, Black Hawk, Cassville, Darlington, Dodgeville,
Iowa-Grant, Lancaster, Mineral Point, Pecatonica, Platteville, Potosi, River
Ridge, River Valley, Seneca, Shullsburg and Southwestern surveyed more than
5,700 students in September of 2001. UW-Extension faculty in Grant, Iowa and
Lafayette counties are involved in processing and presenting the findings.
"The survey found that 72% of teens who strongly agree that their teachers
respect and listen to them and 72% of teens who strongly agree that their teachers
have high expectations of them report getting B's or better in their course work
at school", says Tom Schmitz, Grant/Lafayette County UW-Extension Youth
Development Educator. "Only 44% of the students who strongly disagree that
teachers respect and listen to them and 34% of students who strongly disagree
that their teachers have high expectations of them report B's or better."
"Less than 53% of teens who agree the cost of participating in school activities
limits their participation in school activities report getting B's or higher.
Overall 65% of all students report getting B's or better in their course work
at school", says Deb Ivey, Iowa County 4-H Youth Development Agent. "While
29% of 7th and 8th graders report the cost of school activities prevents them
from participating in as many school activities as they want to, this level of
concern decreases to 16% for 11th and 12th graders."
"About seven in ten students who strongly agree that their parents are interested
in what they learn in school or strongly agree that there is a quiet place at
home for them to study, report getting B's or higher in their courses at school.
Less than 50% of the students who strongly disagree report getting B's or better",
says Ruth Schriefer, Iowa County Family Living Agent. "The study also shows
that parent conversations with their teen about the teen's post high school plans,
high levels of parental monitoring, consistent enforcement of family rules and
having meals as a family are related to higher grades as reported by the students.
In addition, a higher percentage of teens who say their parents would report
them to school officials for a school code violation, also report getting B's
or higher in their school work."
Other findings in the study include:
- 8% of students report they had been threatened with a weapon
on school property in the past year
- 41% of females and 30% of males report being victims of
sexual harassment by another teen at school in the past year
- 17% of males and 14% of females report being victims of
sexual harassment by an adult at school in the past year
- Students who spend time outside of the school day in extra
curricular activities, studying, non-school activities (music
lessons, church meetings, 4-H) and students who do chores at
home report higher grades than those who do not
- 33% of students say teachers prejudge their ability to learn
- 61% of students say they enjoy going to school, and
- 60% of students say rules in their school are fairly enforced
The SWYS survey was funded in large part by the Grant County
Tobacco-Free Coalition, the Lafayette County Tobacco-Free Coalition
and the Iowa County Tobacco Coalition. Other funders included
Lafayette County Families First, participating school districts,
the Department of Transportation, United Way of Iowa County,
UW-Extension Southern District Resource Management Team, Iowa
County Family Preservation and Support, the Biddick Foundation
and the Alliant Energy Foundation.
A full report on the SWYS survey results is due out this spring. Schmitz, Ivey
and Schriefer are also giving community presentations on the data. For more
information on the survey contact your local school district, Schmitz at 723-2125
or Ivey and Schriefer at 935-0391.
Return to 2001 News Releases
Tom
Schmitz, Grant/Lafayette County Youth Development Educator
Youth and Agriculture Center P.O. Box 31, Lancaster, WI 53813
Phone: 608-723-2125 Fax: 608:723-4315
E-mail: thomas.schmitz@ces.uwex.edu |
