Research Center

We approached this staff, student, and parent survey data analysis through two lenses:

• First, and most obviously, you don’t have endless time, money, and resources . If you want to make a big impact on staff, parent, and student engagement and morale, what areas do you need to improve first? And why?
• Second, we highlight broad trends in our survey items and encourage you to consider whether your district’s scores align with or buck this data.

Let’s do that again here. We’ll begin with staff.

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Schools made improvements where they needed to make improvements.

Here’s the good—and perhaps slightly unexpected—news. When we pool all our data together from every staff survey we conducted, we found that every item this school year is doing better than it was last year. All improvement. Zero decline.

And that’s great! But we know that some survey items matter more than others when it comes to staff engagement and retention—we did a whole series of blog posts last fall, analyzing these factors. (All those posts are housed in the Resource Center. They’re worth the read!)

So, let’s take a look at how a few of these items fared in the past year.

Staff Survey Item	Year-Over-Year Change
Staff input is valued.	+3.7%
The amount of work I am asked to do is reasonable/manageable.	+3.4%
Information important to my work is shared with me in a timely and effective manner.	+3.1%
I have opportunities for training/professional development to improve my work.	+2.5%
I feel safe at work.	+2.1%

If a tree falls in the woods…

If you make improvements but parents don’t know about them, did the improvements really happen? (They did, yes, but stick with me here…)

Stating the obvious, parents, unlike staff and students, aren’t at school every day. Therefore, when positive things are happening, they require communication—timely and transparent communication through a medium that works for them. Schools took a step forward in this area this year.

Parent Survey Item	Year-Over-Year Change
School communication is both timely and transparent.	+2.6%
There is a healthy culture at our school.	+2.1%
If my child breaks a rule at school, they are treated fairly.	+1.8%
I have opportunities to provide feedback to the school/teachers.	+1.3%
The school provides opportunities for parent involvement.	+1.0%

Once communication improved, parents became more educated about all the other positive things happening between 8:00am and 3:00pm and had better channels of two-way communication. And much like staff, some items matter more than others in terms of boosting parent engagement. A school could ask these five questions and almost perfectly predict whether a parent would recommend your schools. Therefore, another kudos is in line! Many of you are making such great progress in areas you need to make progress.

(You might be thinking, well, why not just ask these five questions? Make it a short and sweet survey? Good question, but it involves some stats—and more real estate than we have in this blog. But call Rob if you’re curious!)

Let’s finish up with students.

Triangulating your data.

That sounds harder than it actually is. It just means that it’s really valuable when you hear the same celebrations or concerns across all three groups (staff, students, and parents). It helps focus where your attention is needed.

Student Survey Item	Year-Over-Year Change
The homework and projects I’m assigned help me learn and are more than just busywork.	+2.9%
If I were bullied, I would feel comfortable talking to someone about it.	+2.7%
Most kids at school follow the rules.	+1.9%
Students treat me with respect.	+1.3%
I talk to people outside of school about what I’m learning.	+1.2%

Staff feel better about discipline, and students feel it too! They have someone they can talk to at school, they see other kids  following school rules better, and students feel they are treated better by their peers. Key for kids is interpersonal relationships. Some of the biggest factors contributing to whether kids enjoy going to school are driven by support from their parents/guardians, their teachers, and their fellow students.

If you have a teen at home, you know that getting them to talk about school can be like a root canal.

“How was school?” “Fine.”

“What did you learn?” “Nothin’.”

But when they have something to talk about, they will! Kids feel like the work they’re doing is more interesting and more meaningful.

Finally, let’s round out this survey analysis with an item you may be happy declined. Kids are reporting that they have less access to technology devices at school. Why? Because many of you cracked down on cell phone use at school, and the kids aren’t lovin’ it. And that’s probably OK. So, pat yourself on the back for making a good decline!

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