April 5, 2007
For Immediate Release

2006 Employee Survey Results Released

The majority of employees who work for Jeffco Public Schools think it’s a good place to work. That’s just one of many findings of the 2006 Jeffco Public Schools employee survey that was conducted last fall to get feedback from every Jeffco employee.

Jeffco Public Schools employees also say they feel their jobs are important, their relationship with their supervisor remains positive and that they are held accountable for doing a good job. At the same time, they are concerned about salaries and benefits and are not as satisfied with the opportunity to impact student achievement, or the distribution of workload.

The survey was conducted last fall to measure job satisfaction and assess the district’s progress. 11,200 surveys were distributed, and 7,257 employees responded, for an overall response rate of 65 percent. This is the fourth employee survey the district has completed since 1998. The last survey was conducted in 2002.

“These findings are not surprising based on the sometimes difficult changes that have occurred in Jeffco since the 2002 survey. There are many positives as well as areas where we need to improve. We want Jeffco to be a wonderful place to work for our employees and this survey gives us a blueprint for change in the future,” said Jeffco Public Schools Superintendent Cindy Stevenson.

L.C. Williams & Associates, an independent research consultant based in Chicago, analyzed the employee opinion survey data to ensure objectivity. A committee made up of members of all Jeffco employee associations framed the questions asked in the survey. That committee also approved the cost of the survey which is $20,985. This cost includes scantron printing and shipping, data file scanning, and analysis/reporting by the consultant.

The report prepared by L.C. Williams & Associates is available for review. The questions in the survey are grouped into eight “factors” that represent similar themes. They are:

Highlights of Survey
1) Supervision – quality of the employee-supervisor relationship. Jeffco employees continue to hold a generally positive view of their supervisors, but measures did decline somewhat compared to the 2002 results. Three measures received a high score:
-Making staff feel welcome
-Receiving fair treatment
-Commanding accountability
2) The District – employee perceptions of how they are treated by the district. The survey shows that employees feel the district is a good place to work. The district also received higher scores than in 2002 for efficient use of resources.
3) The Strategic Plan – impact the Strategic Plan has on employee attitudes. Positive responses about understanding the goals and objectives of the Strategic Plan dropped somewhat from 2002.
4) Resources – quality of tools, training and other resources. The majority of employees generally rank questions about resources such as quality of tools and training in the neutral range, but having a manageable workload was a lower score than 2002.
5) Effectiveness – performance evaluation process, accountability, impact on student achievement and opportunity to use skills and abilities. This area remains the highest rated factor compared to 2002; however, mean scores for 6 of 10 comparable measures declined somewhat.
6) Rewards – compensation, benefits and promotional opportunities. As in previous years, this is the lowest rated factor by employees. Employees are least satisfied with their pay in comparison to the amount of responsibility and compared to others doing the same job outside of the district.
7) Diversity – issues of race, gender and sexual orientation equality within the district. The district is always concerned with equality and diversity, however, according to the survey, it doesn’t appear to be a concern for the majority of employees.
8) Jeffco representing district values/initiatives – Jeffco Schools’ demonstration of the district’s values and initiatives. Scores for Jeffco Schools demonstrating the district value of integrity increased over 2002. Four items received somewhat lower scores from 2002 including the district values of valuing people, teamwork and exemplary performance.

"Employee satisfaction is a factor in our overall success in educating children, so it's important for us to find out where we excel and where we need to improve," Superintendent Cindy Stevenson said. “We have held a number of employee meetings and focus groups during the past 6 months to get feedback about work related issues, and this survey confirms what we have heard directly from our staff.”

Next Steps
The district has already taken some steps to address the workload issue for employees including:
- Increased funding for more paraprofessional time in elementary schools
- Reduction in meeting time for teachers
- Lowered class size for 1st, 2nd, 3rd grades
- CBLA (Colorado Basic Literacy Act) and embedded assessments are being reviewed for effectiveness and a plan is being developed to make the results more instructionally meaningful and minimize workload impact.

“There is still much work to be done to help our employees with their work load demands. We’ll continue to look for ways to make the job more manageable and enjoyable for our employees and we’ll use this survey as a tool to find creative solutions,” said Stevenson.

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For additional information, contact Communications Services at 303-982-6808.