Learn More About Insight
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What is Insight?
Insight refers to TNTP’s proprietary suite of instructional culture surveys that are designed to gather stakeholder feedback to help district, network, and school leaders understand and improve their instructional leadership practices in specific, concrete ways.
Insight began as a teacher survey in 2010 which has been independently validated by leading research organizations. The teacher survey collects feedback across groups of schools on key elements of instructional culture and benchmarks all results against the schools with the strongest practices. Instructional culture, as measured by the Insight teacher survey, is consistently aligned with effective teacher retention and improved student outcomes.
Over the years we have expanded our survey offerings to include other key members of district, network, and school communities including: Support Staff, School Leadership, Central Teams, Families, and Students.
Gathering feedback from these additional stakeholders provides an even more comprehensive view of strengths and areas for growth.
How can I use Insight results to improve my school, district, or network?
Insight equips leaders with valuable upward feedback and actionable data they can use to improve instructional culture and stakeholder satisfaction at their school, district, or network. In particular, Insight results can help leaders:
- Give stakeholders a platform to offer feedback and a role in establishing a stronger, more supportive culture.
- Assess stakeholders’ understanding of, and investment in, the school or district/network’s vision of excellent instruction.
- Identify opportunities to retain more top-performing staff through low-cost strategies.
- Track progress on school and district/network culture and set concrete, actionable steps for improvement.
- Build trust with their stakeholders by sharing what was heard and how this input will inform school and district/network priorities.
What stakeholder surveys are currently available?
Currently Insight offers surveys for the following stakeholders:
- Staff Surveys
- Teacher Survey
- School Support Staff Survey
- School Leadership Survey
- Central Teams Survey
- Family Survey
- Student Survey (Grades 3-12)
If you are interested in learning more about these surveys, email insight@tntp.org.
What types of schools and organizations use Insight?
Since 2015, Insight has collected responses from over 620,000 stakeholders (including staff, students and families) and provided actionable feedback to over 3,300 schools nationwide.
Insight is used in all types of schools, including rural and urban district, charter, and parochial schools, and for all levels of instruction, from early childhood and K-12 classrooms to adult learning centers.
We also work with funders and non-profit organizations that use survey data to monitor progress and customize support for the schools, districts, and networks they serve.
Has Insight been validated?
The Insight teacher survey has been independently validated by the American Institutes for Research as a reliable measurement of school instructional culture, and the Insight Index is consistently correlated to both student outcomes and teacher retention.
TNTP continues to adjust the Insight suite of surveys to keep pace with key changes and findings in the field. TNTP ensures the validity and reliability of new survey content through regular exploratory factor analyses and annual analyses of item correlations within domains, item standard deviation, and item difficulty of endorsement.
What has TNTP learned about leadership and instructional culture through Insight responses?
We’ve found that the schools, districts, and networks that are exceptional at accelerating student learning tend to focus on developing and keeping great staff. They foster strong instructional cultures by:
- Maintaining healthy learning environments with high expectations for students and staff
- Developing staff through observation, feedback, and peer modeling
- Hiring early, with high expectations for incoming staff
- Responding appropriately to staff performance
For more on what we’ve learned, read the following TNTP publications:
Greenhouse Schools in Boston: Independent studies have found that overall, Boston charter school students, are learning at much faster rates than their peers in charter schools across the country. We think the reason may lie in school leadership practices focused on creating environments that promote quality instruction.
The Irreplaceables: To combat the real retention crisis and create the profession that teachers deserve, we offer two major recommendations.