Chapter 8: Standardized SRTS Survey Analysis

C HA P T E R 8: S T A N D A R D I Z E D S R T S S U R V E Y A N A L Y S I S

A take-home, self-report parent survey was conducted in spring 2016 and the teacher-administered in-class student travel tally completed in October of 2016. These surveys and survey documents have been designed by the National Centers for Safe Routes to School (National Centers.) (http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/) These surveys and survey forms are the national standard for reporting SRTS data in the United States and help the National Centers keep track of walking and biking rates. As per the National Centers’ guidelines, both of these surveys are administered to gather data from students in grades K-8. However, since many school districts in rural Minnesota have only a K-12 schools, some schools may have administered these surveys to students all the way up to grade 12. Rothsay decided to administer the surveys to students in all grades. When this happens, it is WCI policy to enter the data as the individual surveys have a place to indicate what grade the student is in and it would be very easy to deselect data from students grade 9-12, if so desired. The results analyzed are from the Rothsay school, grades PreK through 12.

The parent survey questionnaire is a two-page form that was taken home by students for parents to complete asking about their child’s school travel behaviors and the parents’ perceptions regarding whether walking and biking to school is appropriate and fitting for their child. Besides English, the parent survey is available from the National Centers in Spanish, Arabic, Armenian, Mandarin Chinese, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Korean, Russian, Somali, Ukrainian and Vietnamese. The parent survey (English and Spanish only) can also be done by parents directly online if school administrators and SRTS believe that this will provide a greater survey return rate. This also has the potential to increase survey response accuracy and saves administrative data entry time.

The student travel tally is administered by teachers and conducted over three days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) in one single school week throughout the entire school. Teachers record weather conditions in the morning and afternoon on each particular day. Then, the teachers ask about students’ travel modes to school that each day and how they plan on going home.

Once the paper forms were completed and collected for both surveys, the data is entered on-line into the National Centers’ database by staff at WCI, (This is done to maintain data entry continuity and as a service to the school.) After the survey data is entered, those with access to the National Centers’ database can produce automated individual reports from each school for both the parent survey and the student travel tally. These reports provide a breakdown of the basic statistics that first establish a baseline that progress can be measured against in the future. These reports are also the origin of most of the graphs and charts in this chapter and all those in Appendix A and B. The 2016 surveys will be used to establish baseline data for the Rothsay school. Moving forward, the parent survey will be done once every two to three years. The

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