The Student Thrive Survey asks students to evaluate eight facets of their well-being at Deerfield. It is an initiative pioneered by Director of Institutional Research Kelsey Naughton, aimed to accumulate cross-temporal snapshots of student well-being to track trends over time. Ms. Naughton has shared results from the 2021-2022 school year with the Scroll, which this article will present alongside some student reactions.
The statement with the most students responding favorably was, “I value interacting with people whose viewpoints are different from my own,” to which 85.5% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed. Peer Counselor Isaac Bakare ’24 said, “Since Deerfield is so diverse in terms of socioeconomic standing, race, religion, nationality, you kind of have to interact with people whose viewpoints differ from your own.” On the other hand, only 47.5% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I feel comfortable expressing my opinions to others at Deerfield.” This statement had the least favorable responses, with the next lowest statement being, “I feel like I can be myself at Deerfield,” at 67%.
Reacting to this discrepancy, Student Council Representative Preyas Sinha ’24 said, “If you value interacting with people’s different viewpoints, I’d also think that you’d be comfortable expressing your own different viewpoint.” When asked to explain students’ hesitancy to express their opinions, Sinha elaborated, “A lot of people feel that if you say the wrong opinion, you’re going to end up getting in trouble of some sort. And I don’t know how rational that is, but it’s something that a lot of people feel.”
With respect to their academic experience, students reported high satisfaction. For example, 84.5% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I feel that the things I am learning at Deerfield are worthwhile to me as a person,” and 74.5% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I know how to apply my strengths to achieve my goals.”
Moreover, the proportion of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I feel comfortable expressing my opinions to others at Deerfield,” decreased from 52% to 43% from fall to spring term. Following a similar trend, the proportion of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I feel like I can be myself at Deerfield,” decreased from 70% to 64% from fall to spring term.
Bakare hypothesized that the discrepancy over time was attributable to new students changing their minds, saying, “As you spend time at Deerfield, you start feeling a compulsion to conform to a general image of what a Deerfield student should be, and that might stray away from who you perceive yourself as.”
Furthermore, the data revealed a disparity in opinions between genders, as boys reported more favorable responses than girls to every statement (note: the survey results were classified according to a gender binary). The disparities were in the responses to the statement, “I feel like I belong at Deerfield,” to which 81% of boys agreed or strongly agreed, while only 68% of girls did so, and to the statement, “I feel comfortable expressing my opinions to others at Deerfield,” to which 54% of boys agreed or strongly agreed, while only 41% of girls did so.
Ms. Naughton explained that the former finding was consistent with a Harvard survey, which also found that women felt a lower sense of belonging than men at their school. She elaborated, “There is much research suggesting that girls and boys in high school perceive of belonging in different ways — it is important to girls to belong in a more communal way, whereas boys feel it is important to highlight autonomy during high school.” She also noted that the latter finding was consistent with a Future of the First Amendment survey published by the Knight Foundation in May 2022, which found that girls in high school felt less free to express their opinions than boys.
Asked to explain the discrepancy between boys and girls, Cornelia Streeter ’23 said, “I know a lot of other women who are afraid to express their opinions for fear of being judged. [Sometimes I wonder,] if I express my opinion, will I be attacked by others, mostly men? When I’m nervous about expressing an opinion, it’s usually not to other women—it’s to men.” Peer Counselor Emily Rice ’24 said, “I think in terms of expressing your opinions, there might be a fear of being disregarded or not taken seriously, which would displace peoples’ (specifically girls’) confidence as to how they express their views at Deerfield.”
Additionally, boarding students indicated greater satisfaction with their Deerfield experience than day students, measured by every metric except one. For instance, “I feel like I can be myself at Deerfield,” to which 68% of boarding students agreed or strongly agreed. In comparison, only 55% of day students did so. Also, to the statement, “I feel like I belong at Deerfield,” 76% of boarding students agreed or strongly agreed, while only 65% of day students did so.
Asked to explain this discrepancy in their sense of belonging, day student Giorgia Santore ’24 said, “You have to work harder to fit in, which doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t fit in, but you always need to be exerting an extra effort.” Upperclassmen Day Student Representative Davey Mazur ’24 said, “It’s hard to balance home and school life. You’re caught between, and you feel like you don’t have a place you can go to at Deerfield… For us, we feel like we’re imposing if we do that.”
Finally, the Class of 2025 (then-freshmen) reported a higher level of ‘thriving’ than other classes according to two crucial metrics. First, to the statement, “I feel comfortable expressing my opinions to others at Deerfield,” 63% of the class of 2025 students agreed or strongly agreed compared to the school-wide average of 48%. Also, 75% of the class of 2025 agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I feel like I can be myself at Deerfield,” compared to the school-wide average of 67%.
The Thrive Survey had a relatively high response rate—608 students, or 92% of the student body, responded in fall 2021, and 573 students, or 88% of the student body, responded in spring 2022.
Despite the high response rate, some students doubted whether the survey adequately captured student well-being. Sinha said, “You just want to get the survey over with, without giving much thought … so I don’t think it’s going to be as accurate.” Similarly, Streeter said, “I think that they need to get testimonials from students,” which would be more valuable than just checking a box.
Ms. Naughton declined to provide statistics aggregated by race/ ethnicity, legacy status, and financial aid status, saying that it is important to treat all Deerfield students equally, regardless of their identity and family situations. However, she said that she would consider sharing statistics aggregated by geographic region.
The Thrive Survey illustrates that Deerfield has room for improvement regarding free expression and belonging, especially considering significant gaps by demographic factors, including gender, boarding status, and class year. Additional rounds of the survey are likely to further elucidate trends over time. The most recent round of the Thrive Survey was conducted in October 2022 and the next edition of the survey will be distributed in February.