After making transparent the results of my own evaluation by both myself and my faculty, it is time to turn to our other annual survey: the Annual Parent Survey. [For comparison sake, you are welcome to explore last year’s reflection.]
I will try to highlight any trends I see over the years as well as indicate anything of import in this year’s survey.
The first trend is that each year far fewer parents (22 vs. 39 vs. 64) filled out surveys!
Possible explanations?
Families could be thrilled with what’s going on. Families could be resigned that the results are not taken seriously enough to invest the time in. There could be a certain amount of apathy. Or perhaps we are not marketing the surveys enough.
Regardless, the lower the rate, the possibility of strong validity is reduced. But in the spirit of hoping to learn from whatever there is to learn…let’s move on to the results.
This is more even than last year, but still skewed a bit towards the younger grades, as expected in school surveys. Let’s look at the BIG PICTURE:
The score is still promising. On a scale of 1-10, our average score wound up being an 8.0 Last year we scored an 8.3. The year prior we scored 7.7. It is a fairly stable score – especially considering the sample – but still leaves us some room to grow. Let’s dig deeper.
When it comes to communication, we continue to have high marks. Each one has gone up (except the first, which is virtually the same)! The biggest jumps come in providing opportunities for parents to be involved in student learning (which was the lowest one the prior year). Hopefully this indicates growth on our part from what we learned. Another big jump was in parent-teacher conferences, which I would like to attribute to our piloting Student-Led Conferences. I am pleased that the biggest jump came in front office attitude, and I have shared that pleasure with those people. The place to keep working appears to be ongoing communication about children’s academic status, which could be a concern about our current system in the Middle School or lack of a system in the Lower School.
I know it is a little crowded, so let me break down some of the highlights.
Let me unpack the non-subject specific areas first:
- Most important increase! The education offered at our school is high quality: 8.4 vs. 8.28 (last year) vs. 7.72 (the year before last year)
- EVERY category in this section is up – most importantly questions that deal with “teaching in different styles”, “teaching to different levels” and “satisfied…(with) individual attention”. All these categories blend with “21st century learning”.
General Studies:
- The big picture is great! The OVERALL rating has gone to 8.3 from last year’s 7.97 from the prior year’s 7.19. That is a trend in the right direction.
- Based on that it makes sense that all General Studies scores are up from last year, with one exception. The impact of Singapore Math continues to positively impact as does, we hope, the influence of the Daily Five on Language Arts.
- But there is still room to grow. Science took a drop – and that is despite dedicating time and an instructor in the Lower School for the first time. It is impossible to know because of how the survey is done whether or not to attribute the drop to dissatisfaction in Grades K-2 (where there is time, but no teacher), Grades 3-5 (where there is time and a new position), or Middle School (which is the same). Regardless, this is something very important for us to explore. There is no “21st century learning” without high-quality Science instruction.
Jewish Studies, Resources and Extracurricular Activities:
- The marks in these areas are, again, all slightly down from last year. Not dramatically so, but still noticeable. With renewed emphasis on language immersion, we really do believe our program is stronger, but for whatever reason it has not translated to parent satisfaction (at least from the sample). It is possible that we have set a higher bar and the distance from it is now more noticeable. We have pledged to post more video of our students engaged in authentic Hebrew speech and this will hopefully contribute to higher marks in the years to come.
- Our weakest area has consistently been “After School Activities”. It is hard to know if this is a referendum on the quality of what we do offer or on the quantity of what we do not offer. We have added more club sports and a Chess Club on top of an Enhanced Kindergarten Program and partnership with the JCA. We might wish to do some parent surveys to unpack this one more fully.
So there you have it for 2012-2013!
Thanks to all the parents who took the time and care to fill out surveys. In addition to the multiple choice questions, there were opportunities for open-ended responses. They added an additional layer of depth; one which is difficult to summarize for a post like this. But please know that all comments will be shared with those they concern as we use this data to make enhancements and improvements headed into next year. By the by, we are very pleased with how well satisfied our parents are with how the school is going…but be assured, just like with everything else, we expect to see growth and progress in a school where there is “a floor, but no ceiling”.
