1. Going to:
http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/departments/instrAccountability/teacherSurvey/
2. Choosing “elementary” from the drop down School Type menu in the upper left corner.
3. Then choosing “Davidson” from the School menu that appears in the top center of the screen and using the items in the rectangle on the left to navigate through the survey.

The PTA Board’s assertion that “morale … is dismally low” stems not from some sort of anecdotal, historic comparison–as Mr. Hattabaugh assumed–but instead from the online comparison CMS provides with “All Elementary” schools in the survey results themselves. We agree that Davidson Elementary is a trailblazing school. As such, we would have expected that teacher morale here would be at least as high in most catagories as the same indicators for elementary teachers across the board. Further, if the low morale reflects pressure placed on teachers by “curriculum constraints” and “assessment requirements,” we might also expect DES teachers’ responses to look more like those of their colleagues around the district. Indeed, CMS should seek to contextualize Davidson’s survey responses by exploring the results first-hand with DES teachers–whom Mr. Hattabaugh rightly characterized as among the best in the system. Results that deviate substantially–either positively or negatively–from “All elementary” school norms should be cause for managerial interest that extends beyond the principal’s chair to the local superintendent’s office.