Surveys are a critical part of the Nest Program and allow us to ensure the effectiveness of the curriculum, fine-tune our materials, and better respond to your needs and to those of students.
We appreciate the time you will take to complete this brief survey before you begin the curriculum.
Before you begin:
Please check with Nest staff to ensure that your district is participating in the administration of Nest Surveys if you are not sure.
Please administer student surveys at the start and end of the Nest Curriculum. If you allow technology in your classroom, Nest requests that you share the links above with your students to complete the surveys online. This preferred format reduces the possibility of human error, speeds up processing time, and helps keep costs associated with data analysis down.
Please also remind students that these surveys are not a test and let them know that they may see terms and concepts that are new to them, which is okay. They should be encouraged to respond to the best of their ability.
To learn more about Nest's work with researchers at NYU Steinhardt School on the development of this survey, please see the FAQ and Research and Evaluation sections below.
This past year we entered into a fantastic new partnership with New York University. Specifically, we are working with the Applied Psychology Department at the Steinhardt School.
This partnership helps us 1) create new material for you 2) ensure we are incorporating the most effective strategies in lesson development, and 3) bring the curriculum to new schools. In order to do this, we are working to show clear evidence-basis for our work.
To make sure we reach our objectives, NYU developed a longer survey utilizing previously validated measures in order to determine if the curriculum is making the impact that we all want it to. Being able to demonstrate effectiveness will, in turn, allow us to make any needed adjustments, demonstrate the importance of bringing this programming into more classrooms, and secure additional funding to do so.
It’s long because we ask some of the same questions a few different ways (see why below). The new survey also measures things like school climate and how motivated a student feels to take action in their communities. We recognize that all these factors contribute to resiliency and the data we get back will help strengthen the resources we are able to offer you and inform the partnerships we enter to support student safety, action, advocacy.
As we work with NYU to analyze the data we’re collecting, we’ll also be reviewing and revising the survey protocol, including determining if and how we can reduce the number of questions.
Students will see similar questions asked in different ways. This allows us to be sure that we are actually measuring what we think we are because students may answer similar questions in different ways, based on subjective understandings.
For example, when similar surveys have been administered in the past, students have indicated agreement with BOTH of the following statements: “In general, the American political system operates as it should,” and “American society needs to be radically restructured.” To be sure we are capturing what their input and opinion on a particular question, best practices demonstrate that we should ask the same question in slightly different ways.
Once students fill out the survey, our team removes any identifying information from survey responses and sends the data to our NYU team. They then run an analysis and share results. The development and analysis of this survey have been approved by the Internal Review Board at NYU so rest assured that we are using best practices and protecting privacy.
Yes! Once results are finalized aggregate findings will be made available. We’re not sure exactly how or where yet, but you can definitely plan on seeing our findings (for example, via newsletters, on our teacher portals, and in our teacher trainings).
Absolutely! Surveys are voluntary and we hope students opt-in to help us assess our success and areas where we need to improve.
Yes! Students who participate at all three timepoints (the pre-unit survey, post-unit survey,and follow-up) will be entered into a random drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. One gift card will be awarded per school and drawings will take place after the follow-up survey has closed.
Spearheaded by NYU researchers, the Nest Program for Positive Relationships is driven by cutting-edge research and evaluation. Nest’s NYU partners have developed an evaluation protocol that aligns with the priorities of teachers and schools, to assess classroom and student needs, and the impact of the program. Specifically, the protocol addresses both direct and indirect intervention targets. Direct intervention targets include the knowledge and skills the curriculum explicitly promotes. Indirect intervention targets include other aspects of students’ classroom experiences, such climate (see the Evaluation Procedures section below for more detail). The insights gained from these evaluations enable Nest and school partners to more effectively promote health and safety, building on student’s strengths, and informing curriculum and policies.
Data will be collected in accordance with a waitlist-control paradigm, so as to eventually inform rigorous causal analyses. Students participating in the pilot implementation of the curriculum, and those on the waitlist, will complete surveys at three different time points: at baseline, upon completion of the curriculum (or after four weeks, for those on the waitlist control), and six months after baseline. In addition to addressing demographic information, the measures that will be used are all tools that have demonstrated validity and reliability in youth populations. Data will primarily be collected via electronic surveys, with the option for teachers to administer paper surveys should they need to do so. All data will be de-identified prior to analysis, in accordance with secondary data analysis techniques. Details regarding the types of data collected are provided below.
In addition to general demographic data, such as well-being, and resilience. Data will also be collected from teachers to ensure implementation fidelity. Teacher, grade level, gender, and age, the evaluation protocol addresses direct and indirect intervention targets. Direct intervention targets include knowledge and skills about the prevention of child sex trafficking and abuse, consent, healthy relationships, and the critical consumption of media and content. Indirect intervention targets include school climate, student mood and wellbeing, and resilience. Data will also be collected from teachers to ensure implementation fidelity.