Volunteers in Public Schools (1990) / Chapter Skim
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3. School Volunteers: A Statistical Profile
3. School Volunteers: A Statistical Profile
Pages 12-30
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From page 12... ...
To meet the need for information on the critical aspects of teacher supply and demand, the composition of the administrator and teacher work force, and the general status of teaching and schooling, NCES mounted an integrated survey covering the 1987-1988 school year; it involved seven different inquiries to schools, school districts, principals, and teachers, in both public and private sectors. The sample for the 1987 effort consists of 12
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From page 13... ...
Responses were obtained from 90 percent of the public schools and 70 percent of the private schools. The questions were similar to those included by NCES in a study of public schools conducted during the 198~1985 school year (and one of private schools conducted in 198~1986)
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From page 14... ...
THE NATIONAL PICTURE Some 1.3 million people were expected to participate as school volunteers in the school year beginning in the fall of 1987, according to preliminary information prepared by NCES from the Schools and Staffing Surveys conducted in the fall of 1987: about l million people were expected to contribute their time to the public schools, and an additional 295,000 unpaid volunteers were expected in private schools. The 1987 figure for volunteers in public schools is not substantially different from the 1.1 million reported by NCES for 1985; the figure for volunteers in private schools at the current time, however, is almost three times the 1985 figure of 100,000.
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From page 15... ...
There is greater use of volunteers at the elementary level: volunteers are found at 75 percent of elementary schools, and there are an average of about 24 volunteers per school; at the middle and secondary school levels just over 50 percent report the use of volunteers, with an average of about 15 volunteers per school. Public schools with high minority enrollment (50 percent or more)
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From page 16... ...
16 VOLUNTEERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TABLE 3-1 Public Schools with Volunteers, 1987-1988, by Selected Characteristics Average Number TotalTotal of Volunteers CategorySchoolsVolunteers per School Total47,3021,015,442 21.5 Enrollment Less than 1503,16721,659 6.8 150-2997,33784,368 11.5 300-49914,516281,418 19.4 500-74911,072329,952 30.0 More dean 7507,342194,383 26.5 NA/NR55426 7.7 Minority Enrollment Less than 5 percent14,255254,425 17.8 5-19 percent11,042299,843 27.2 2~49 percent8,471199,674 23.6 5~74 percent4,18772,187 17.2 More than 75 percent4,86572,454 14.9 NA/NR67113,623 20.3 Minority Teachers Less than 5 percent20,970404,287 19.3 5-19 percent10,944284,684 26.0 20~49 percent6,499129,458 20.0 5~74 percent2,06435,703 17.3 More than 75 percent98914,053 14.2 NA/NR2,02444,021 21.8 Type of School Elementary31,198739,144 23.7 Middle/junior5,03171,668 14.2 Secondary3,82061,230 16.0 Combined1,86518,864 10.1 Other1,55721,180 13.6 NA/NR18121 6.6 Type of Community Rural/farming12,123140,881 11.6 Towna10,902210,479 19.3 Suburban8,474270,323 31.9 Urban11,529285,462 24.8 Other3244,112 12.7 NA/NR138950 6.9
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From page 17... ...
Those results show that the major focus of volunteer activity in the public schools, occupying almost 40 percent of all volunteers, was in the area of instructional support, such as tutoring, grading papers, monitoring in science laboratories, conducting rote exercises, and the like. The next most reported activity, involving about 30 percent of volunteers,
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From page 18... ...
18 VOLUNTEERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TABLE 3-2 Private Schools with Volunteers, 1987-1988, by Selected Characteristics Average Number TotalTotal of Volunteers CategorySchoolsVolunteers per School Total17,738345,994 19.5 Enrollment Less than 1506,25343,714 7.0 150-2994,65087,289 18.8 300~991,89854,525 28.7 500-74978227,117 34.7 More than 75035617,564 49.4 NA/NR Minority Enrollment Less than 5 percent6,433115,143 17.9 5-19 percent4,17561,877 14.8 2~49 percent1,62727,829 17.1 50-74 percent59414,698 24.8 More than 75 percent9235,917 6.4 NA/NR1884,744 25.3 Minority Teachers Less than 5 percent9,900170,762 17.2 5-19 percent2,14939,950 18.6 20-49 percent7596,770 8.9 50-74 percent2911,390 4.8 More than 75 percent2231,622 7.3 NA/NR6169,713 15.8 Type of School Elementary8,653146,103 - 16.9 Middle/junior1781,998 11.2 Secondary -85523,727 27.8 Combined2,43435,423 14.6 Other1,81722,947 12.6 NA/NR110 10.0 Type of Community Rural/farming2,32922,373 9.6 Towna3,59751,132 14.2 Suburban2,77762,202 22.4 Urban5,19894,189 18.1 Other6214 35.0 NA/NR3399 3.3
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From page 19... ...
Less than 5 percent of volunteers assisted in the area of guidance support, such as career and college counseling or in health and drug awareness. At the elementary school level, just under 50 percent of the volunteers were involved with instructional support activities, followed by extracurricular and advisory support activities.
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From page 20... ...
To provide some understanding of this important area, we have used a study conducted by the Gallup organization in fall 1985 for the Independent Sector, a public nonprofit coalition of corporate, foundation, and voluntary organizations established to assist the voluntary sector (see Independent Sector, 1986~. The information was obtained through personal interviews with a national sample of 1,638 respondents 14 years of age and older.
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From page 21... ...
These data also suggest a major change that took place during the postWorld War II period in the functions undertaken by volunteers with respect to schools, that is, away from fund raising and school mother activities to assisting teachers and schools in the fundamental task of educating children. There was an effort to profile volunteers in public schools in 1981-1982, when the National School Volunteer Program (NSVP)
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From page 22... ...
22 VOLUNTEERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TABLE 3-4 All Volunteers in Past 12 Months, by Selected Characteristics, March 1981 and October 1985 (in percent) Characteristics March October 1981 1985 Total 52 48 Sex Male 47 45 Female 56 51 Age 14-17 53 52 18-24 54 43 25-34 NA 53 25-64 55 51 35~9 NA 54 50-64 NA 44 65 end order 37 38 65-74 NA 43 75 and older NA 26 Race White 54 49 Black and other races 41 38 Marital status Married 53 52 Single 58 39 Divorced/separated/widowed 42 39 Employment Full-time 55 49 Part-time 65 62 Not employed 45 44 Education Grade school 26 29 Some high school 31 38 Four-year high school 54 46 College, less than4 years 65 61 College, 4 or more years 75 65
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From page 23... ...
This sampling procedure is considered less reliable than a school-based sample because school districts are often less likely to be able to respond with reasonably accurate data. Finally, we were informed that only about one-half of the sampled school districts responded, and nonrespondents were not followed up; it was thus assumed that the number and distribution of volunteers in school districts that did not reply were similar to those that did.
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From page 24... ...
A similar study, which also included a question on the use of volunteers, was carried out a year later among private schools. The public school survey in 1985 was conducted by mail for a national representative sample of 2,801 public schools and had a response rate of 84.6 percent.
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From page 25... ...
It is clear that standards on how the data should be gathered and evaluated must be established, agreed upon, and carried out. Furthermore, if individual states wish to collect such information and a number of the states already do-they should be encouraged to use agreed-upon definitions and question wordings in order to ensure conformity with the national data.
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From page 26... ...
Organized volunteer programs promote the involvement of a wide spectrum of the population including parents, business and industry personnel, community organization members, retirees and students. The Council encourages state education agencies to provide leadership in working with local schools and communities to promote the statewide development of partnerships between professional educators and citizen volunteers to improve school effectiveness and student performance.
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From page 27... ...
About half of the replies provided the name and address of a person at the state level who had been designated as responsible for school volunteer program coordination, and a small number provided a brief description of the responsibilities of the position. The state of Florida has what is probably the strongest legislative commitment, with annual categorical funding for matching grants to school districts to promote and extend school volunteer programs.
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From page 28... ...
The most recent study showed that there were an estimated 140,800 education partnerships between public schools and outside sponsors as of the 1987-1988 academic year (National Center for Education Statistics, 1989~. The most frequent sponsors of education partnerships were businesses and civic organizations or service clubs.
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From page 29... ...
of the secondary schools had education partnerships, as compared with onethird of the elementary schools. School participation in partnerships was directly related to school size, ranging from 30 percent in small schools to 57 percent in large schools.
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From page 30... ...
The committee recommends that the National Center for Education Statistics use its existing advisory committees to define both the data content to be collected and the appropriate frequency of collection. · The committee recommends that the National Center for Education Statistics consult with state and local school officials, with policy makers, and with parties concerned with the use of volunteers in schools to ensure that full cooperation is forthcoming in effecting the collection of useful and usable information.
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