HE‘E’s comments on School Quality Survey to be presented to BOE at General Business Meeting on June 7, 2011 at 2:15pm.
The Parent Survey is a good starting point to understand parent interactions with their child’s school. However, the survey may be enhanced through the following considerations:
Survey Implementation
- Increase communication with parents to let them know the survey is being administered and how the results will be used. Schools might utilize PCNCs or parent groups to publicize survey to make it a priority. This may improve the return rate (currently at 26.1%).
Survey Design
- Provide survey in multiple languages to accommodate English Language Learners and encourage increased diversity among respondents
- Provide an explanation of terms
- Either avoid using DOE acronyms or at least explain the meaning of DOE acronyms that are used in the survey to help the lay person complete the survey
Additional Questions
- Include additional questions:
- What types of communication occurs between parents and their child’s school?
- Do parents feel communication is welcome and/or encouraged by their child’s school?
- Provide a section to comment/provide open ended feedback
Reporting and Use of Results
- Create user-friendly results for both teachers and parents to read and understand
- Increase systematic and systemic uses of results
- Explore parent involvement component for WASC
- Explore ways that this may inform teacher/principal evaluations
- Explore ways to increase the meaningfulness of survey results
Questions about the Survey:
- What plans are in place to increase parent satisfaction by 4% per year as outlined in the DOE Strategic Plan (p.9)?
- Are CASes, Principals, Teachers or Parents regularly asked what information they would find useful to learn about from the survey?
- How does the survey relate to Federal Title 1 family engagement requirements?