Research Center Blog

This set of posts, the first in our six-part research series, will answer two questions:

1. What staff, student, and parent survey questions are scoring highest and lowest?
2. What questions saw the biggest year-over-year changes?

In our next set of posts (coming later in September), we’ll talk about which areas you should consider fixing first to boost engagement for each group.

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At the end of each school year, we combine the results from all our staff, student, and parent surveys. We then look for interesting trends and study what these data points tell us. (Unless otherwise noted, all items are on a 1 to 5 scale; the higher the score, the better.)

 

First, we looked at staff. Next, let’s focus on parents.

 

What parent survey items scored the highest?
Survey Item	Score
School facilities are clean and well-kept.	4.27
I feel welcome in my child's school.	4.17
School staff treat my child with dignity and respect.	4.14
My child feels safe at school.	4.11
I have at least one school staff member I feel comfortable contacting when I have an idea or concern.	4.10

 

What parent survey items scored the lowest?
Survey Item	Score
District administration is doing what it takes to make our district successful.	3.76
There is a healthy culture at our school.	3.74
The school board is doing what it takes to make our district successful.	3.64
The District is heading in the right direction.	3.63
I am satisfied with our school's efforts to address bullying.	3.43

 

What parent survey scores increased the most from 2022-23 to 2023-24?
Survey Item	% Change
On a scale of 0 - 10, how likely would you be to recommend our school(s) to a friend or family member?	5.2%
The school teaches with materials that reflect my family's cultural and racial backgrounds.	1.8%
The District is heading in the right direction.	1.7%
Overall, my child is able to handle the emotional challenges of school.	1.4%
I am satisfied with our school's efforts to address bullying.	1.3%

 

What parent survey scores decreased the most from 2022-23 to 2023-24?
Survey Item	% Change
School communication is both timely and transparent.	0.0%
If my child breaks a rule at school, they are treated fairly.	-0.2%
I'm satisfied with how much my child is learning.	-0.3%
District administration is doing what it takes to make our district successful.	-0.5%
The school board is doing what it takes to make our district successful.	-1.1%

 

Parent Observations:

1) Parent scores are rosier than staff scores. No item from parent surveys is below the median (3 on a 1-5 scale). That means, in aggregate, parents lean toward agreement on every item; that’s a great place to be!

2) The items at the bottom focus on climate (bullying and overall culture) and leadership (unlike staff, this applies to both district administration and the school board). Overall, though, parents seem to be pretty satisfied.

3) The relatively high overall satisfaction level is reflected in the final parent survey question (the one that asks whether they’re likely to recommend their schools to others). This is the question that increased the most.

4) Not only are parents pretty satisfied with their schools overall, but only four items declined year-over-year. This tells us that schools have done a good job maintaining fairly high levels of parent satisfaction.

5) We expect some annual movement; that’s just what happens in surveys. A few tenths of a percent decline aren’t much to write home about. However, parents are growing more unsatisfied with their school board than any other type of leadership.

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The School Perceptions Blog and Resource Center features the voices of our team members. This post was written by Rob DeMeuse, Research Director.