Welcome to our presentation of results for the Community and Belonging Survey of Students. All told, 96 independent schools participated (80 American and 16 Canadian), involving 22,297 students enrolled in Grades 9-12. This project generated more than 1,000,000 answers, and literally thousands of pages of tables and graphs, resulting in more than 100 PowerPoint files and mini-presentations. This work has culminated in my own interpretive Analysis of Findings Reports, including highlights and recommendations, one for American schools and one for Canadian. In turn, I’ve narrated an easy-on-the-eyes overview presentation of results, one each for the American and Canadian schools (that’s Step 1 in your review of the results).

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Typically, when I take on survey assignments with independent schools, there’s a personal relationship established, from the point of assignment to the presentation of results. Given the number of schools involved (and the fact that this project was undertaken pro bono by John Gulla, Steve Piltch, and yours truly – no one paid to participate and none of us got paid), this personal relationship has not been possible. As a consequence, we’ve done our best to present results in a guided fashion that enables the end user to navigate independently through branched files of data and findings. These findings, involving such a large sample size, and the many cross-tabulations of data, should be of interest, not just to those 96 participating schools, but to anyone engaged in conversation about the student experience.

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For those not involved in the project, we’ve recorded a number of short videos, introducing the project and its creators, and describing who did what, when, how, and why. This short video collection provides the necessary context for all that follows.

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I’ll leave John and Steve to speak for themselves on why they signed on and embraced this effort. Steve has been asking me for close to 25 years when my ‘book’ would be coming out. From where I sit, this project is that book. When the three of us first met in March 2022, we named this our Making a Difference project. I hope it makes a difference and adds value for you.

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I look forward to your feedback.

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Kevin Graham