The Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District heard further discussion on student responses to the Relationships, Effort, Aspirations, Cognitions, Heart (REACH) survey at Thursday’s meeting, this time focusing on the district’s efforts to improve its scores.

The REACH Survey is administered to students in grades 6 through 12 to examine the relationships between students and teachers and see what further work needs to be done. Students are polled in the five following categories:

*Relationships: Do teachers believe in their students?

*Effort: How students view their own intelligence influences the effort they put into their school work.

*Aspirations: Do students have positive visions of their futures and set and work toward their goals?

*Cognition: How well do students manage and think about their own thinking?

*Heart: Do teachers provide students with the spark that would allow them to exert effort in and out of school?

Special Services Director Dr. Carolyn Patton presented the results at a September school board meeting. She returned Thursday to dive deeper into some of the results and discuss what further actions the schools are taking to improve them.

When students at Benicia Middle School were asked about the perceptions of how teachers expect them to live up to their potential, students had scored a 78 out of 100, with 53 percent believing that teachers exceeded this goal. However, Patton noted that BMS Principal Damian Scott wanted this number to be at 100 percent, in terms of approaching or meeting the goal.

“We want every kid at Benicia Middle School to know that there’s at least one, if not all of their teachers, that know they’re going to be held accountable and expect their best,” Patton said.

To help get this number up, BMS has been utilizing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, student centered instructional practices and coming up with responses to the statement “I can’t do this” that reinforce that such tasks are capable of being done.

The second target goal focused on students’ belief that they have control over what happens in their academic lives. BMS students once again did very well, scoring 73 out of 100, with 69 percent of students either approaching or meeting the goal. To improve this number, the school again has been utilizing PBIS, the Sources of Strength suicide prevention program and the slogan “Make it a great day, the choice is yours.”

Finally, students were polled on whether or not they felt teachers were responding to their interests or talents. BMS did not score as well in this category, with 53 percent of students feeling this goal was not being met. BMS responded to this through shifts to real world learning, providing staff training for Project-Based Learning (PBL) and professional development with equity exert Jamie Almanzan on issues like culturally responsive teaching and unconscious bias.

Benicia High School students also indicated a problem with connectivity. When asked if they felt their teachers believed in them, 43 percent felt they did not have one teacher who made them feel valued.

“This was really disconcerting to the high school administration and leadership team,” Patton said, as administrators and department heads feel like the teachers do believe in their students, but “The things they are doing are not translating to the kids.”

To combat this, the high school is conducting PBL training to increase projects that incorporate students’ voices, holding Monthly Student Forums to hear student concerns and provide actions and using department meetings to brainstorm strategies that teachers can use in their classroom.

In terms of teachers connecting students’ passions to what they are learning, 67 percent of students felt their teachers were not doing this. The school has looked at piloting a “Get Focused…Stay Focused” freshman-level course to explore personal and career interests and have students create a personal 10-year plan, offering courses in the medical and industrial/building trades, and providing a new bell schedule that offers time for students to check in with their teachers.

President Gary Wing expressed concern over the large percentage of students that were not being met.

“The teachers sometimes lean so much toward academics that (students) don’t have much of a choice in class about their project,” Patton said.

She suggested one solution would be for students to do writing assignments based on their own areas of interest rather than a particular topic.

Wing believed the minority statistics were very important.

“I’d be interested in the 3 percent (and) why they feel so connected,” he said.

Liberty High School’s responses indicated that 58 percent of students felt the level of culturally inclusive instruction and respect for other cultures in the classroom was below average. To help promote diversity, the school hosted a Dia De Los Muertos celebration in November and a Martin Luther King Day celebration this past week, with plans in the future for Black History Month and Chinese New Year celebrations.

For another target area, 45 percent of Liberty students felt their teachers did not do much to help them learn from mistakes and grow from failures. The school is working on digital portfolios to help students identify their barriers and help overcome them. It also is allowing students to track credits toward graduation so they can see the progress they are making.

Patton noted the next steps for the district were to continue to administer the survey, monitor data and see if progress is being made.

Trustee Peter Morgan suggested having two scores: one for the students and another for the staff and district.

“When I listen to you, it seems to be all about, ‘We’ve gotta get the kids to change,’ when it may very well be we need to change,” he said.

Patton believed the practices would be beneficial to both.

“The teachers and administrators changing their practices and behavior will help change the students,” she said.

In other business, the board unanimously approved a tentative agreement between the district California School Employees Association, and Sebastiano Padoan— the new director of technology and innovation— highlighted the district’s new phone application, which is in the beta stage and is expected to be available to the public in February.

The board will next meet on Thursday, Feb. 2.