WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The North Berkshire Educational Sustainability Study is looking for input from residents about what is working — and what is not — in the four districts participating in the study.

 

At its August meeting, the Steering Committee reviewed questions in an online survey that consultants from Berkshire Educational Resources K12 hope to make live before the end of the month.

 

The survey, which will take about eight to 10 minutes to complete, includes multiple choice questions about residents' experiences with and impressions of the region's public schools with the opportunity to give open-ended responses.

 

Data collected will help BERK12, the consultant, drive a yearlong conversation with stakeholders and develop recommendations to be included in a final report that will be issued in June.

 

BERK12's Brendan Sheran, who took the lead on developing the survey, pointed to one example of how survey results can inform the conversations that will feed into that report.

 

"To what extent do you agree or disagree with statements about how the schools prepare students for the next step," Sheran said, explaining that those preparations include academic and social readiness. "If we find people are strongly agreeing the schools are strongly preparing students for the next step, we can ask in focus groups about what the school is doing that does this."

 

Sheran and BERK12's project director, Jake Eberwein, also talked about how the consultant used a similar survey in a sustainability study for the Mohawk Trail and Hawlemont school districts and the eight Franklin County towns they cover.