At Boothbay Region High School, students have expressed that they are struggling to be heard: “Voicing your concerns doesn’t seem to matter.”

This is just one of the 120 responses I’ve received from an anonymous student survey I sent out inquiring about whether or not students feel like their say in the decisions made by administrators and teachers at BRHS has been noticed. The data collected reflect a clear pattern of how students feel about their ability to express input on educational experiences: When asked whether they felt they had consistent opportunities to share their worries on teacher performance and course quality, 72.5% answered that they either never had an opportunity (because there is no such vehicle to do so) to voice concerns or felt those concerns had little impact.

The above shows how many students believe they don’t currently have an effective avenue of articulating their anxieties, which is important to take into account, as when students don’t feel fully heard, it can influence the community bonds and environment at school. Right now, to give students the voices they deserve, we need a structural approach ensuring that our student body’s feedback is used to improve the decision-making process.

That’s why I am proposing course and teacher evaluations. With 82% in agreement that the evaluation platforms will make it easier to voice concerns more effectively, and 95% saying this arrangement will be at least be somewhat helpful, I think taking these surveys to rate their experiences in terms of class and teacher quality is a great idea. This would mean at the end of each school year, students will have an opportunity to give honest and thoughtful feedback on an anonymous survey, ultimately giving more mobility to provide both constructive criticism and/or meritorious recognition.

To solidify the potential of making this addition, I interviewed the high school’s Director of Technology Abby Manahan on what the best way is to collect and organize student surveys. After proposing Google Forms, she responded that it “is pretty easy to distribute digitally,” and that “we can restrict the form to our school domain so only verified students can take it” (Manahan). To maintain privacy, these replies would also be filtered so that teachers only have access to feedback from their own courses.

Benefits of the surveys for the student body would include allowing students to feel that their opinions and say in things are valued while simultaneously improving the education offered, leading to increased work ethic and a more comprehensive understanding of the subject at hand. Not only could this overall improve the average GPA of the high school, but it would strengthen school morale. Data reflecting course design would also be of use to the Guidance Office and other academic departments concerning possible course reconstruction and whether or not to offer new electives and/or discontinue old ones.

This idea is already favored by some school staff. Mark Gorey, a former member of the district's Performance Evaluation and Professional Growth (PEPG) committee, is an English instructor who supports this idea. As one of the teachers giving anonymous feedback on the performance of his supervisor Principal Tricia Campbell–an evaluation which was made possible through his efforts during his time serving on the committee–he argues how, “Because that’s [the evaluation tool used by teachers] in place, by analogy, why don’t we let students have a form to send feedback to teachers? Doesn’t it make sense that students have valuable insights as to how a teacher is performing?”

Dr. Campbell herself is interested in reviewing this concept of incorporating teacher and class evaluations with the understanding that she wouldn’t be using those comments to make decisions on a teacher’s employment status, since the PEPG committee does not have such a policy enacted. In my judgment, this implies the next step is potentially asking for the committee's approval sometime in the next few years after testing these new surveys for their appropriateness for an administrator to consider when evaluating a teacher’s effectiveness. The local teachers’ union, the Boothbay Region Education Association (BREA), would also need to take part in negotiating student feedback as potentially impacting an instructor’s job evaluation by the supervisor. 

Principal Campbell has elaborated in her approval that the system I’m proposing “is highly effective because it boosts student agency and allows for real-time instructional adjustments… help[ing] educators refine their curriculum and model[ing] valuable communication and critical thinking skills” (Campbell). Implementing these surveys will help teachers to improve their classes by adjusting pacing and assignments, while simultaneously forcing them to take accountability for things like late-grading, poor grading policies, and equitable student treatment.

Admittedly, though, there are some obstacles and hurdles to acknowledge that could reduce the intended efficiency and effectiveness of these evaluations. Students must understand that feedback should remain constructive and purposed for making improvements. Additionally, teachers would need to focus on addressing overarching patterns in their questions rather than outlier comments. Another concern is survey-fatigue; if a survey is too long, answers could be low-effort, which would consequently reduce the effectiveness. What the real game changer is for these teachers and course evaluations is in the hands of the student body–how serious and thought-through their participation will be in producing quality feedback.

Still, similar evaluation systems are already used in other schools such as Maine School of Science and Mathematics and Cape Elizabeth, as well as colleges across Maine. By following these examples, BRHS can implement a model that fits its community with a survey that is perhaps made by the superintendent hand in hand with the BREA.

I highly encourage my readers to contact Principal Campbell with backing up my proposal for the coming school year. Though there will be challenges to contend with, the implementation of student courses and teacher evaluations will be significantly valuable for our future and growth as a high school, both as an institution and a community cornerstone for the adolescents of the Boothbay region.