EDUCATION: Survey shows MBUSD students feel a sense of belonging to their schools

by Mark McDermott 

Students in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District are increasingly feeling a positive sense of belonging at their schools, according to a survey conducted in partnership with the Beach Cities Health District. 

The BCHD Tri District Survey is administered each spring and fall and includes MBUSD, Redondo Beach Unified, and the Hermosa Beach City School District. Its goal is to assess students’ sense of belonging and inclusion. 

In the survey taken this fall, 75 percent of MBUSD students responded in agreement with the statement, “Overall, I feel that I belong at my school,” which represented an increase from 57 percent last spring. A similar jump occurred in agreement with the statement, “I feel connected to the adults at my school,” which improved from 40 percent to 53 percent.” 

Assistant Superintendent Irene Gonzalez-Castillo said the data was encouraging but also offered a caveat. The survey methodology changed this fall, she noted, including more young students. 

“It’s important to note that in this comparison, we are looking at this from a historical perspective, but it’s a different assessment tool,” she said. “We are administering this third through 12th grade. This includes third through fifth, and that was not included in data previously.” 

The Tri District Survey has replaced a previous survey called Panorama that asked similar questions, but many more —  the test formerly took 30 to 45 minutes, but has been simplified to about 15 minutes —  and those additional three grades were included. Younger students generally expressed more of a sense of belonging than older ones, although the breakdown among different grades responding to the statement, “I feel supported at my school” showed 76.30 percent of Mira Costa High students agreeing, compared with 71.10 percent at Manhattan Beach Middle School and 77.20 in elementary schools. Few students disagreed with the statement —  2.7 percent at MCHS, 4.7 percent at MBMS, and 3.6 percent of elementary students. The remainder neither agreed nor disagreed. 

Board member Wysh Weinstein, a former teacher, said that negative responses might not be indicative of students who do not feel included or supported. 

“I think sometimes a child just might have be having a bad day,” she said. “You know, somebody just made fun of them at recess, or whatever. So I think there’s always some of that that will show up in this data, for sure.” 

But Weinstein also asked that extra effort be made to ensure that students are encouraged to talk to their counselors. 

“Like a reminder, ‘If you feel lie you need an adult, or your counselor, reach out to your teacher,” she said. “Sometimes kids don’t even know who their counselor is. They are all told and informed….but some kids don’t necessarily pay attention until they need that information.” 

Board member Bruce Greenberg said he appreciated the usefulness of the data, but said establishing a baseline for the new methodology means future results would be more informative —  including comparisons to the other two school districts. 

“The challenge for me is [the survey] is kind of looking at data in isolation versus comparative,” he said. “That will come over time….Obviously, we hope every year, things are improving.” ER