Students are generally feeling more positive about their well-being at school, at home, and in their community, according to recently released Project Cornerstone results from last September’s survey.
Project Cornerstone was created by the Youth Alliance, a partnership between the YMCA and YWCA of Silicon Valley, Boy and Girl Scouts and various other community organizations. Administered at schools across the country, the survey seeks to evaluate how many assets, or positive qualities, students possess in order to monitor students’ ability to thrive in their school environment. Thirty-one of 40 assets are generally present in successful students.
According to September’s results, Saratoga High students possess an average of 22.9 assets, an increase of 3.4 assets from May 2007.
“That’s a pretty good jump,” said principal Jeff Anderson. “Obviously, it’s good that it’s positive as opposed to feeling like we’re going backwards.”
Anderson is most proud of significant increases in the percent of students who perceived experiencing the assets of a caring school climate, school boundaries, high expectations, school engagement and bonding to school.
After the release of the 2007 Project Cornerstone results, the school completed a self-study to determine in which areas changes should be made, and Anderson thinks changes made to the school are reflected in many of the results.
Caring school climate increased significantly from 26 percent in 2007 to 45 percent in 2010, and though Anderson acknowledges that this percentage could be higher, he is pleased that the results are heading in the right direction.
Sixty-two percent of students said the school provides clear boundaries through rules and consequences, a gain of 18 percent from 2007.
“We want people to feel like they know where the boundaries are,” Anderson said.
Additionally, 58 percent of students reported that their parents and teachers have high expectations of them, while only 32 percent of students felt this in 2007.
“Hopefully we’re not pressuring them to do well and they feel like they’re getting encouraged to do well,” said Anderson. “I think that’s a difference that is subtle but important.”
School engagement also went up from 56 percent in 2007 to 77 percent in 2010.
“[School engagement] means students are engaged in learning and not just sitting there and taking tests,” Anderson said. “Young people are actively engaged in trying to get something out of their education instead of just trying to get a good grade.”
Finally, bonding to school—having students care about the school—increased majorly from 56 percent in 2007 to 78 percent in 2010. After the assessment of the 2007 results, improvement in this category was made a strong priority.
“We really emphasized things that we thought would help kids feel more connected to school, feel better about the school and just overall want to be here more,” Anderson said.
However, slight decreases were also seen in the percentages of students participating in community service, reading for pleasure and doing creative activities such as music, theater, or other arts. Anderson thinks these decreases are more due to students’ busy school schedules than a lack of interest.
“I think it would be great if [these percentages] went up, but I don’t know that I have as much control over some of these as some of the others,” Anderson said. “We can try to encourage [these activities], but we can’t really influence or change them for every single person on campus.”
Anderson thinks the Project Cornerstone results should be used to continue improving students’ lives.
“The report really is designed for families, the community and the school to look at these things together,” Anderson said. “Everybody needs to try and do their part to make [students’ lives] better.”
