What is it? Tell Them From Me is an online student survey. It is not a test. It is a series of questions that will help your teachers and principal learn more about you and your school. It is completely anonymous – no-one will know that your answers came from you (it has “credit card” level security).

What should you do? Be open and honest about your answers. Do not include any information that would identify you (e.g. your name, phone number, teacher’s name, etc.). Make sure your answers reflect what you think – not what your friends would answer or what you think your parents or teacher would want you to say.

Who sees this information? The information is sent over a secure data line to a database server. There, it is mixed with all the other responses from thousands of other students in the same grade as you. If less than 5 students respond to any given question, the results will not be shown. Remember: it is completely anonymous. No one will know your answers came from you.

How is this done? You receive a random username and password.. (don’t lose it, and keep it confidential!) You go online (www.tellthemfromme.com) and enter the username and password given to you. If you don’t have time to finish the survey, you may go online at another time to finish it.. (that’s why it’s important to keep your username + password!) The survey will take around 35 minutes to complete.

Why are we doing this? This is an opportunity for you to give your opinion on things that matter to you at school. It will help teachers and principals identify changes that can improve your school. The survey was designed by researchers to give the most useful information for determining what needs to get done to improve your school.

Is it really that useful? Here are some examples of things that other schools have done after learning from their surveys: We asked: Tell us about some of the things you don’t like about your school. You said: “Parking Pass in the student parking lot is a dumb idea.” We say: We hear you and the idea is withdrawn. We asked: Tell us about some of the things you would like to see more in your school. You said: “More presentations and activities to encourage school spirit.” We say: Awesome. Please bring specific ideas and suggestions to teachers.

Why are some questions so personal? The survey does assess a number of personal areas in order to get a fuller picture of the students in your school. For example: parent education levels happen to be a very good indicator of socio-economic status which is reported for the whole school, not individual students. It helps to give us an idea of the background for the student body at your school, without you having to identify yourself.

Why the questions on Aboriginal status, immigrant status, and language spoken at home? To help the school hear the voice of this group, to see if there is something the school should consider doing to improve student outcomes. This is a chance to express this directly and openly, without any concerns about whether or not you should say something. We want to know when doing the same thing for everyone isn’t quite the right approach to take.

Why no back-button? Once you submit a page, you cannot go back and make changes to your answers. Security reasons: Protecting you! If you leave your computer part-way through your survey, no-one can go back and change your answers. Time concerns: We want you to have enough time to finish the survey. Take care in answering, but don’t worry if you mess up on a question or two. Remember: It is not a test.

Your opinion counts and will help us to improve our school! Thank you! Your opinion counts and will help us to improve our school!