When should I survey staff, students, and parents?

A couple weeks go, we promised we'd be doing a fall research series on how to improve staff, student, and parent engagement and satisfaction data.

That's coming! In fact, the first part should be available next week. In the meantime, though, we thought we should talk about when you should survey. After all, it's kind of hard to know what to improve if you haven't done the survey yet...

It's one of the most common questions we hear: When is the best time to launch a survey?

Because all our educational partners and the districts we serve have slightly different circumstances and needs, our standard answer is, "It depends…"

When it comes to staff, student, and parent surveys, if the choice is between surveying or not surveying at all, then the answer is, "There is never a bad time." However, there are better times than others.

Fall Survey Scheduling Suggestions

• Avoid the first month of the school year, as everyone is trying to get into a new school year routine (and avoid homecoming week 😊).

• October and early November are optimum; everyone has settled into a routine.

• Avoid the Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, and New Year’s. We are stating the obvious, but we have found response rates decline during these times because students, staff, and parents are unplugging from school and enjoying their [brief] break.

Surveying this time of year gives your leadership team time to:

• Study the reports we provide.

• Communicate your findings.

• Make plans to address improvement goals during the current year.

• Potentially implement those plans during the current year.

• Show your respondents you are listening.

Spring Survey Scheduling Suggestions:

• Avoid February. This is just a yucky time of year because the joy of the holidays is long gone, everyone's tired of winter, and spring seems like it will never arrive.

• March, April, and early May are optimum. Just avoid spring break for the same reasons we avoid the holidays.

Surveying this time of year gives your leadership team time to:

• Study the reports we provide.

• Communicate your findings.

• Make plans to address improvement goals during the spring and early summer months.

• Implement those plans the following fall.

• Show your respondents you are listening.

The bottom line is that it is always better to engage with your staff, students, and parents with a quality survey than not to survey at all. At School Perceptions, we would be thrilled to partner with you in "Measuring what matters."

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The School Perceptions Blog and Resource Center features the voices of our team members. This post was written by Daren Sievers, Project Manager.