Our Centers for Ethics:

South Dakota Survey Results, 1998-2000

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cHARACTER COUNTS! began in the schools studied in 1997-98. In that year, the South Dakota investigators conducted the first surveys of students and teachers.

First year. In 1997-98, researchers distributed questionnaires to 10,000 middle and high school students from six counties. The students came from rural, urban, and reservation areas of the state, though the great majority lived in Sioux Falls. The forms were anonymous and participation was voluntary. Of the 10,000, 7,496 came back. The large number of responses and the demographic variety reduce the chance of error from a biased sample.

The investigators surveyed teachers in the spring of 1998, assessing their perceptions of student change since fall of 1997. While students from only grades 7-12 received questionnaires, teachers from the spectrum of grades 1-12 filled them out. Teachers are thus the sole source for the response of elementary school children. The researchers distributed evaluation forms to teachers in eight counties. Ninety percent of them, or 443, responded. Of this sum, 325 were from teachers of grades 1-6, and 118 from teachers of grades 7-12.

Second year. In 1998-99, 6,156 students returned the form, 1,340 fewer than previously. Reasons for the decline are unclear. Student responses came from five counties this time, not six, but the missing county could not have accounted for the difference. The assessment took place in May 1999.

Teachers returned the second survey in the fall of 1999, again assessing student change since fall of 1997. There were 359 responses, 190 from teachers from grades 1-6 and 169 from grades 7-12. That is, far fewer grade school teachers responded than before, and far more middle and high school teachers did (see table below).

Third year. In 1999-2000, 8,419 students returned the questionnaire, an increase of 2,263 over the previous year. The jump partly reflects the fact that, though one county dropped out of the study, two more joined. But at best, this explanation accounts for only about a quarter of the rise.

Investigators distributed and collected the third set of teacher forms in the fall of 2000 (though in Sioux Falls the survey for grades 1-6 came back in February 2001). One county participated for the first time, having waited until its teachers were more familiar with the CHARACTER COUNTS! program. There were 346 total responses, 135 from teachers of grades 1-6 and 211 from grades 7-12. By now, less than half of the original 325 grade 1-6 teachers were returning forms, and almost twice the initial 118 grade 7-12 teachers were. The reason for this flip-flop is unclear.

Sample sizes by year:

	Students	Teachers	Teachers 1-6	Teachers 7-12
1997-98	7,496	443	325	118
1998-99	6,156	359	190	169
1999-2000	8,419	346	135	211