TELL Maryland Frequently Asked Questions 2015 Updated Feb.10, 2015

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. TELL Maryland Partners

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. What is “TELL Maryland” ? TELL Maryland is an anonymous, statewide survey licensed school-based educators and designated education support personnel* to assess teaching conditions at the school, district and state level. The state’s education leaders want to ensure that every Maryland educator has the supportive environment necessary to help students achieve at the highest levels! *designated ESP includes classroom assistants and clerical staff.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. The 2015 TELL Maryland Survey is a statewide opportunity for school-based educators to provide input on teaching conditions such as: Time during the day for collaborative instructional planning School and teacher leadership Facilities and resources Professional development And other supports needed for educators to do their jobs well. The main intent is to provide additional data for school and district improvements. What is the purpose of the 2015 TELL Maryland Survey?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. Why are teaching conditions important? Teaching conditions matter: For students (achievement) For teachers (retention) For school and district improvement To align perceptions with reality The work is research driven and is now part of national education reform initiatives.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. A growing body of research shows the importance of positive teaching conditions to student learning and teacher retention. ( empowering-leading-and-learning-tell-survey) Education leaders in Maryland want to hear from every teacher and administrator in order to make the best decisions about facilities and resources, professional development, time for collaboration, and ways for improving instruction. TELL Maryland will provide that data and much more. YOUR voice will help inform the decisions that are made not only at your school, but also in your district. Why is it important to complete the TELL Maryland Survey?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved.  Entry to the survey  Real time response rates for schools and districts  Help desk via web, and phone  Schedule of Events  News Items  The results by school, district, and state including full results, summary with excel download  2013, 2011, Results and Reports

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved.  Anonymous, online survey of every certified school-based educator in the state of Maryland.  Live from February 23-March 23,  Any Internet location, using an individual, anonymous access code.  Anyone can view the response rate at any school during the survey window to make sure every school reaches the minimum response rate needed for data (50%).  Results will be available for schools and districts reaching the 50% minimum response rate and minimum of 5 educators. Can you tell me about the basics of the survey?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. How can I take the survey? Once you receive your anonymous access code, visit: 24 hours/day Use any Internet location* View the survey questions Read about the research Take the survey! *NOTE: If your Internet browser uses an older version of Internet Explorer (Versions 7 or 8) you will not be able to take the survey until you update your computer’s browser to Internet 9,10, or 11, or Firefox, or Chrome.)

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. The Principal in each school will receive a packet of letters no later than the week before the survey begins. There will be a bright sticker on the envelope for each school. Packages are delivered via USPS. How will the Principal in each building receive the anonymous access codes?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. TELL Maryland takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. You must complete it in one session and be sure to click “submit” when you are finished. How long does it take to complete the survey?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. The Principal in each school will receive a packet of letters no later than the week before the survey begins. There will be a Letter of Instruction included. The Principal is asked to: Set up a faculty meeting to take place on the starting day of the survey. Share key talking points about the TELL Maryland Survey. Disseminate the letters randomly. Teachers can switch their letters once received with other certified educators based in their same school. Meet personally with anyone not in attendance to explain the process. How will teachers and administrators receive their anonymous access codes?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. Your individual, anonymous access code! Letter to Educators

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. 1.Go to the website and click on “Need Help?” 2.Help Desk phone: 1 (866) ext. 12 (7:30 AM-4:30 PM Mon. – Fri. during the survey window) 3.Help Desk What if I misplaced or never received my anonymous access code ?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. If your entire school did not receive access codes- the Principal should contact the Help Desk! 1. Website: 2. Phone: toll-free (866) ext.12 available 7:30 AM-4:30 PM local time, Monday through Friday during the survey window What happens if a school did not receive access codes?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. 1.Visit and click on the “Need Help?” button then the click the ‘headcount’ link. 2.Include the name of the school and district as well as the corrected headcount. It may take as long as 48 hours for The Help Desk to make the change and it be reflected on the website. * Or designee What should we do if the website has the incorrect number of people for my school? All requests for headcount changes must be submitted via website by the school principal.*

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. When your responses arrive safely in our database you will receive a "Thanks! Your survey is completed” How will I know my responses were submitted successfully?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. Staff that fit the following criteria: Currently working in one of the district's schools All full or part time certified teachers All educators teaching in state operated programs and eligible facilities All school principals and assistant principals Other building level administrators Designated ESPs: teaching assistants and clerical assistants Who can participate in the survey?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. No. Only school-based certified educators. Are central office certified personnel included?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. Do administrators and teachers receive separate codes? What about designated ESPs? No. They will use the same website ( to access the survey using one of the anonymous access codes on the letter. At the very beginning of the survey the participant will be asked to select his/her school position. When the principal selects “Principal” he/she will then receive many of the same questions as teachers, but will receive an additional bank of questions that has been specifically designed for administrators.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. How are the administrator results reported? Can you ensure that this is anonymous?  The survey is about the school environment - not about any one person or individual.  There are NO questions asked that refer to an individual educator or administrator, instead questions refer to “leadership” at the school.  There are no questions on the survey that specifically ask about subject areas or grade levels. To ensure anonymity of all respondents, all responses for administrators are reported at the state level.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. What are access codes and are they really random? They are randomized codes, that provide confidentiality for the educators, created by the New Teacher Center and associated to school buildings so that school can use the results from their own teachers. They are not linked to any individual. It is impossible to trace to an individual before, during, or after the survey is completed. It does not matter which educator uses a particular code within a school building. Each code can only be used once.Each code can only be used once.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. Can you ensure that this is anonymous? (cont.)  When the school reports are released (for all schools that reach at least a 50% response rate and with a minimum 5 teachers) there is nothing to indicate any type of teacher or any one administrator in a school or district.  Just as in 2013 and 2011, there are some demographic questions on the survey, the answers to these questions are only reported at the state level, and not at the district or school level.  There is no way that any connection can be made that a teacher or principal at a certain school gave a certain response.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. What if I’m the only new teacher? Or the only ESL teacher? How will my response really be anonymous? There is a minimum sample size of at least 5 for any school level report; unless there are at least 5 teachers within their first three years of teaching, no data will appear on the school report for the “New Teacher Section.” Additionally, individuals can feel even more secure about their anonymity being protected because: It is not possible to view data by role, years of experience, or any other demographic information at the school or district level. Demographic data will only be reported at the state level. If the Department decides in the future to make raw data available to districts for further research, demographic information will be removed.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. What happened with the previous TELL surveys in Maryland? State leaders have incorporated the use of the TELL data into the Race to the Top work, specifically related to new teacher support. For example: Annually Required in Maryland’s Master Plan for each district: LEAs must provide a description of their Comprehensive Teacher Induction Program using TELL Survey data Used at Induction Site visits for Action Planning Used in alignment with Induction Survey and Mentor Survey for program analysis Shows Coordinators where they need to spend their time to meet teachers’ needs ILT (Instructional Learning Teams) take the data to other groups within in the school such as SIT (School Improvement Team) Importance at school and district level for PD planning and advocacy Continues the professional growth conversation using data from TELL and not just from formative evaluations

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. Where can I find the previous results of the surveys? All of the data, findings and reports are located at and can be accessed by clicking on the “Historical” tab.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. Yes. You may view the survey at Are the questions the same as the 2013 survey?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. At you can click on any school, district, or the state and view a response rate tracker in real time! How do we know when a school reaches the minimum 50% response rate needed for school- level data?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. When will the results be ready? How can they be viewed? All data will be available on the website approximately 5 weeks after the close of the survey windowwww.tellMaryland.org Results show answers to every question by school* and district Results can be downloaded in Excel format There will be Guides posted on for Districts and Schools on how to use the data for school improvement planning. State results will be analyzed and reported in Fall *Results for schools reaching the minimum threshold for response.

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. What else can I see at Entry to the survey via individualized, confidential 7 digit access codes through letters to schools Real time response rates per school, district and state during the administration window Help Desk via web, and phone throughout survey News items Schedule of Events Date when the results will be available

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. There will be a toll-free Help Desk 1 (866) ext. 12 available 7:30 AM-4:30 PM MT Monday through Friday during the survey window. Help Desk can also be accessed at any time through or by accessing the website Anyone (principals or teachers) not receiving codes should contact the Principal or Help Desk at 1 (866) ext. 12 during the survey window. If the school does not receive the packet of materials- the Principal should the Help Desk and request a replacement set of codes. Who can I call if I need help, lose my access code or didn’t receive an access code?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. The state has contracted with the New Teacher Center (NTC) to administer the state’s survey. NTC is a national organization dedicated to supporting the development of a high-quality teaching force. NTC has conducted similar surveys in other states and provides induction and professional development for teachers and principals across the country. Since 2008, the NTC has collected more than 1.2 million surveys in 20 states, providing critical information to the faculty in more than 35,000 schools about issues such as planning time, facilities and resources, professional development, school and teacher leadership and other aspects of the school environment that can influence teacher effectiveness. Learn more at: leading-and-learning-tell-surveyhttp:// leading-and-learning-tell-survey Who is administering this survey?

Copyright © 2014 New Teacher Center. All Rights Reserved. Thank you, Maryland Educators! Please visit forwww.tellMaryland.org the latest updates about the survey.