High Schools That Work

2007 Graduate Follow-up Letter To Schools

MEMORANDUM

　

TO: School Leaders at HSTW Sites

FROM: Gene Bottoms, Senior Vice President, Southern Regional Education Board

DATE: March 1, 2007

SUBJECT: Follow-up Survey of 2006 High School Graduates

This spring, schools that administered the 2006 High Schools That Work Assessment will administer the follow-up survey to graduates from the class of 2006 who participated in the assessment. This survey provides schools with the information they need to answer important questions such as: How many of our students attended postsecondary education one year after graduation? How many of our students needed remedial course work in their postsecondary education and in which subjects? What types of jobs did our students hold after graduation and how much were they paid?

The follow-up survey of 2006 graduates will take place from March 19 to May 11, 2007. Survey reports will be sent to schools in the fall of 2007 as PDF files on CD-ROMs. A list of important dates and deadlines for the follow-up appears below. This mailing also contains the following materials:

Instructions for completing the 2006 follow-up survey of high school graduates

65 survey answer documents or the number requested

Cover letter to send to graduates (customize as needed)

Jobs and study/training fields list to send to graduates

A survey control form to return with your school's completed surveys

Important Dates and Deadlines for the Follow-up Survey of 2006 High School Graduates
March 1	Follow-up survey materials are mailed to schools that participated in the 2006 HSTW Assessment.
By March 19	Schools locate 2006 HSTW Assessment rosters, gather graduates' current mailing addresses and prepare survey answer documents (with the HSTW site code and each student's 2006 HSTW answer document ID number). Send each student the following: a cover letter, an answer document, a list of jobs and study/training fields and a postage-paid envelope addressed to your school.
May 4	Deadline for graduates to return surveys to the school or to have completed a survey by phone through the site coordinator. (see enclosed instructions) Site coordinators must review completed surveys to ensure the school's HSTW site code and the student's 2006 HSTW test booklet ID number are recorded on every scan sheet.
May 11	Postmark deadline for completed surveys and the survey control form to be returned to the scanning facility at the University of Georgia.

Instructions for Completing the
Follow-up of 2006 High School Graduates

Use the following steps to complete the follow-up survey of 2006 high school graduates. Follow-up survey materials (i.e., the cover letter, jobs and study/training fields list, survey control form, HSTW site code list and random sampling instructions) are available online at http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/Assessment/assessindex.asp.

Overview: 2006 follow-up surveys should be sent only to graduates who participated in the 2006 HSTW Assessment. If more than 60 students participated in the 2006 assessment and you have not requested additional documents, use the random sampling instructions provided on our Web site to select a random sample of 60 assessment participants for the follow-up survey. Instead of using a random sample, you may call SREB to request additional survey documents in order to survey all assessment participants from your school.

A response rate of 75 percent or higher is the goal for participating sites to help ensure the data in the report provided by SREB are valid and reliable. To achieve this goal, schools may use a combination of approaches including sending surveys to students and/or calling students and having them give responses to the site coordinator over the phone. You may also contact SREB for a PDF of the survey itself and send it to students via e-mail. If you do so, someone at your building must record the responses for these students onto the actual survey documents—printed copies cannot be read through the data scanners.

If you have questions about the follow-up survey or need a PDF of the survey document or additional scan sheets, contact Allison Timberlake at allison.timberlake@sreb.org or (404) 879-5575.

Step 1. Locate your 2006 HSTW Assessment Student Roster.

To conduct the follow-up survey, schools must locate the student roster they used during the administration of the 2006 HSTW Assessment. These rosters (if completed correctly) list students' names and their six-digit HSTW Assessment answer document ID numbers. Each student listed on the roster (excluding alternates who did not take the assessment) should be sent a follow-up survey. Use this roster to log your progress in receiving completed follow-up surveys from students.

Please note: Only students who participated in the 2006 HSTW Assessment should receive follow-up surveys. If you are unable to locate your student roster, contact SREB using the contact information provided above for further instructions.

Step 2. Locate a current address for each graduate.

Use school records to locate a current address for each graduate. If you cannot find the graduate's current address, you may wish to use the address of his or her parent. Please use any resources available to locate mailing addresses for students including the Internet, e-mail or current students who may have known the high school graduates selected to receive follow-up surveys.

Step 3. Modify the cover letter.

A cover letter with information about the follow-up survey of 2006 high school graduates is enclosed with this letter. (An electronic version is also available on the SREB Web site.) Customize this letter and print it on letter head from your school.

Step 4. Prepare the follow-up mailing.

For each survey you send, you will need

A mailing label with the graduate's current address from Step 2;

One business envelope (size 10);

One postage-paid envelope addressed to your school for returning the survey (also size 10). Include the name of the person at your school who is in charge of returning the surveys to the University of Georgia;

A copy of the cover letter customized in Step 3;

The jobs and study/training fields list to assist graduates in responding to survey questions. (This list can be copied on the back of the cover letter;) and

One scannable survey document, on which you have completed the box on page one with your school's five-digit HSTW site code and the student's six-digit 2006 HSTW Assessment ID number from the roster obtained in Step 1. If you do not know your HSTW site code, access the site code list on the SREB Web site ( http://www.register.sreb.org/hstw/2006/AnnualReport/SiteCode.aspx).

Step 5. Document the completed surveys as they are returned and contact students as the May 4 return deadline approaches.

You should allow students at least a two- to three-week period to complete their surveys. Document the surveys as they are returned to you. As you approach the deadline, you may find it necessary to contact graduates who have not returned surveys by phone or e-mail. With the graduate's permission, you may collect survey responses over the phone and record them on the scannable answer documents. Be sure to include your school's HSTW site code and the student's assessment ID number on the answer document if you complete it for him or her.

Step 6. Return all completed surveys to the University of Georgia.

All completed surveys should be returned to the University of Georgia for scanning at one time. The postmark return deadline is May 11, 2007. Complete the survey control form, ensure it was signed by the site coordinator and return it with your completed surveys.

Materials should be sent to

Lisa Ward
Georgia Center for Assessment
University of Georgia
1985 New Jimmie Daniel Road
Bogart, GA 30622-9593

PDF Version of this document

For more information, please e-mail Alison Timberlake at allison.timberlake@sreb.org.