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SURVEY |
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Prepared by SCSSA Vice President Joel Rothblatt Dear NCSSA Executive Board: I am pleased to provide you with a breakdown summary of the surveys collected at the CCSS Annual Conference in March 2007 in Oakland. We collected 122 valid surveys in which a conference attendee listed at least one CCSS membership benefit preference. (Nine surveys were invalid since no preferences were selected). Twenty-two (22) attendees indicated in their survey that they were interested in volunteering to help coordinate local council activities (and one attendee wrote maybe). CODING METHODOLOGY: I tallied the respondents preferences as follows: If the surveys were ranked from 1-10 with 1 being the most important benefit (as the attendees were asked to do), I only tallied the top five preferences ranked. If 5 or fewer benefits were checked, I ranked them all as a 1, unless one was already marked with a 1, then the unranked checked benefits were scored with a 2. NOTE: I divided the surveys between those attendees from Northern California (86) and those from Southern California (36) to control for any potential regional differences in their preferred benefits from CCSS membership. TOP BENEFITS AS RANKED BY RESPONDENTS The most important benefit listed overall was Professional Development courses and hours toward continuing teacher credential. ● 74 attendees (60%) marked it as an important benefit and 74% of those listed it as a 1, or the most important benefit → Of those working in Northern California, 48 attendees (56%), marked it as an important benefit → Of those working in Southern California, 26 attendees (72%), marked it as an important benefit The second most important benefit listed overall was Opportunities for grants and scholarships. ● 62 attendees (51%) marked it as an important benefit and 39% of those listed it as a 1, or the most important benefit → Of those working in Northern California, 37 attendees (43%), marked it as an important benefit → Of those working in Southern California, 25 attendees (69%), marked it as an important benefit The third most important benefit listed overall was Discounts for educators and CCSS members. ● 60 attendees (49%) marked it as an important benefit and about 40% of those listed it as a 1, or the most important benefit → Of those working in Northern California, 44 attendees (51%), marked it as an important benefit → Of those working in Southern California, 16 attendees (44%), marked it as an important benefit The fourth most important benefit listed overall was Opportunities for travel and study tours. ● 55 attendees (45%) marked it as an important benefit and about 30% of those listed it as a 1, or the most important benefit → Of those working in Northern California, 32 attendees (37%), marked it as an important benefit → Of those working in Southern California, 23 attendees (64%), marked it as an important benefit The fifth most important benefit listed overall was Opportunities for CEUs (Continuing Education Units)/Salary Points. ● 40 attendees (33%) marked it as an important benefit and 2/3rd of those listed it as a 1 or a 2 → Of those working in Northern California, 34 attendees (40%), marked it as an important benefit (with >60% listing it as a 1 or a 2) → Of those working in Southern California, 16 attendees (44%), marked it as an important benefit (with an average score of a little lower than a 3) The sixth most important benefit listed overall was Legislative representation statewide for Social Studies ● 37 attendees (30%) marked it as an important benefit and about 30% of those listed it as a 1, or the most important benefit → Of those working in Northern California, 20 attendees (23%), marked it as an important benefit (with 50% listing it as a 1 or a 2) → Of those working in Southern California, 17 attendees (47%), marked it as an important benefit (with 50% listing it as a 1 or a 2) The seventh most important benefit listed overall was Social Activities / Networking ● 33 attendees (27%) marked it as an important benefit and about 45% of those listed it as a 1, or the most important benefit → Of those working in Northern California, 25 attendees (29%), marked it as an important benefit (with 55% listing it as a 1 or a 2) → Of those working in Southern California, 8 attendees (22%), marked it as an important benefit (with 50% listing it as a 1 or a 2) The eighth most important benefit listed overall was Sunburst and the Social Studies Review publications ● 26 attendees (21%) marked it as an important benefit and about 30% of those listed it as a 1, or the most important benefit → Of those working in Northern California, 15 attendees (17%), marked it as an important benefit (with 50% listing it as a 1 or a 2) → Of those working in Southern California, 10 attendees (28%), marked it as an important benefit (with 25% listing it as a 1 or a 2) The ninth most important benefit listed overall was Local area book groups related to the Social Studies ● 25 attendees (20%) marked it as an important benefit and about 45% of those listed it as a 1, or the most important benefit → Of those working in Northern California, 15 attendees (17%), marked it as an important benefit (with 30% listing it as a 1 or a 2) → Of those working in Southern California, 8 attendees (22%), marked it as an important benefit (with 30% listing it as a 1 or a 2) NOTE: If the local area book group benefit was added to the social activities / networking category, it would become the fourth most important category with 57 attendees (47%) selecting it (although there may be some overlap), the overall percentage of attendees valuing local council activities is very high. SUMMARY The surveys collected at the CCSS Annual Conference are statistically significant and give us some insight into the views of the attendees (both CCSS members and potential members) as to the CCSS membership benefits they value most highly. Obviously, Professional Development courses and hours toward continuing teaching credential is the top perceived benefit. The next two top benefits fall within the general category of monetary resources/savings for professional and personal purposes. Rounding out the top five are opportunities for travel and study tours as well as the general category that contains local council activities (including book groups and networking / social events). CONCLUSIONS/PRELIMINARY RECOMMENDATIONS We can go a long way to addressing the needs that the CCSS conference attendees noted by focusing our efforts on their top five perceived benefits. Regarding Professional Development courses, we can try to develop such courses and provide our members with more opportunities to earn hours toward their teaching credential. In the meantime, we should publicize all such professional development opportunities through our website, e-mail communication and bulletin boards, as well as through fliers and other communication. We should also actively seek out and publicize opportunities -- for personal savings as well as professional grant and scholarship opportunities. We could develop a slogan about carrying (and showing) the CCSS card to receive (additional) discounts. (NOTE: If we can frame this membership benefit as one of saving money just by paying membership dues, and we publicize it to schools and teacher training institutes, we should increase membership dramatically based on this benefit alone). We should encourage local councils to become more active, and provide them with the names of CCSS attendees who indicated that they would be interested in helping to coordinate local council activities, including book group meetings and social activities/networking. (I have attached the list of names with partial contact info). Finally, we should seek out and publicize -- opportunities for travel and study. An initial way to begin would be to contact major universities who may be organizing such trips. We can then ask if our CCSS members can piggyback on their tour programs which can help them reach the minimum necessary and/or receive additional discounts. Perhaps we can even get additional discounts if we help publicize their programs. Of course, we should always look to dovetail the various benefits whenever posible. For example, by providing CCSS members a discount on a travel tour which offers the opportunity for professional development credit, and can lead to a follow-up talk/presentation activity at the local council level We have to be proactive and creative based on our members stated needs.
Joel Rothblatt CCSS Membership Chair
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All Rights Reserved Copyright 2007. SCSSA (Southern California Social Science Association) |
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