Croatan High School administered the High School Opinion Survey to teachers, support staff, parents, and students in the Fall of 2004 to gather opinions about various aspects of the school and its mission. Data from the survey was analyzed to determine common indicators of strengths and concerns about the school. The following strengths were observed when analyzing the data from this survey:

95.2% The school is a safe and orderly place to work and learn.
95.0% The school is clean and neat.
92.1% Assistance is available at the school to help students succeed.
90.0% Students have access to a variety of resources to help them succeed in their learning.
90.6% The administrators at the school are highly visible.
89.3% The administrators support and promote a high quality education program.
89.0% Parents are frequently informed of student progress.
87.6% The staff has high expectations for quality learning.
87.6% The classroom atmosphere is conducive to quality learning.
87.4% Technology is used as an effective tool for teaching.

When analyzing the data, the following were determined to be areas in which Croatan High School could continue to improve their programs and curriculum. While this survey did not indicate any major problems in these areas, there is room for improvement.

Indicators of Areas to Improve

60.4% Students have sufficient access to computers outside the school. This reflects the broad socio-economic range within the community.

67.2% Students see a relationship between what they are studying and their lives. An emphasis for the staff at Croatan High School is to encourage students to recognize the relationship between the educational curriculum and their daily lives.

69.5% Parents support the school discipline policy. Ironically the parents rated this objective at 75.4%; whereas, the student’s 50.5% skewed the rating. Support for any discipline is a challenging task; however Croatan High School will communicate the plan more effectively to the students and community in order to dispel any misconceptions.

75.2 % Homework assignments at the school enhance student learning. To have such an approval rating for homework, even with student support of 58.2%, is a marginal weakness. However, this number could be increased by more effective follow-up on the assignments and by making clearer connections between the learning objectives and the assignments.

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