the 2014 parent engagement survey - gardencity.k12.ny.us · agenda •background •why did we...
TRANSCRIPT
THE 2014 PARENT
ENGAGEMENT SURVEY
Presentation to Board of Education
October 14, 2014
Agenda
• Background
• Why did we survey parents?
• The importance of parent engagement
• Survey design
• Implementation of the survey
• Survey findings and conclusions
• Selected item results
• Cluster results
• Conclusions
• Next steps
• Q & A
Why did we survey parents?
• 2013-14 district goal: Continue initiatives to ensure
commitment to quality “client service” and effective
communication with all members of the school community
• Feedback is an important part of the school district’s
commitment to continuous improvement
• In our fast-paced environment, it is often difficult to acquire
detailed feedback from a large audience
• Surveys can be used to collect information on a variety of
topics related to a broad theme
• Surveys can be conducted in a relatively short period of time
• Technology now enables us to conduct surveys with minimal
expenditures
• There is a strong association between parent involvement with a
child’s education both at home and at school and student
performance in school
• Parent involvement is also related to improved student behavior
in school and improved attitudes about schoolwork generally
• Teachers report greater job satisfaction in schools with higher
levels of parent involvement, and they receive higher ratings of
their teaching skills from both parents and principals
• Parent involvement in schools is associated with lower alcohol
use and other at-risk behaviors
• Many researchers view parent involvement as an indispensable
ingredient in building or sustaining effective schools
----EdSource 2014
The importance of parent engagement
Our assumption:
Our school district should have strong
family engagement
…But we couldn’t be sure
Supposing is good, but finding out is better.
Mark Twain
We wanted to find out if our assumptions
were accurate
“Harvard, SurveyMonkey Offer Tool to Weigh
Parent Engagement”
• A new survey tool that school districts and parent-teacher
organizations can use to measure the quality of parent-school relationships has been created by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and released by Survey Monkey, a Palo Alto, Calif., company, for widespread use by schools, districts, and parent groups.
• The 71-item “question bank” covers seven areas of family engagement—from how much help students receive at home to how confident parents are in supporting their child's schooling. Districts can adapt the survey to suit their individual needs, and parents responding to it can do so online or on paper.
----Education Week, 1/16/13
The K-12 Parent Survey
• The Harvard 71-item bank served as its foundation
• Priority items were identified by members of the administrative team
• Edited for question clarity, community context
• Possible items reviewed with PTA leadership, administrators; shared with Board of Education
• Final version contained 28 Likert-type items, including 3 questions for demographic information (no names)
Survey procedures
• Once the survey questions were finalized, they
were emailed to all parents, K-12
• Parents were allowed to take the survey for each
child enrolled in school
• Parents were given three weeks to respond. 1431
responses were collected – total number of
students for 2013-2014 was 3889
• Almost 40% of the responses were collected the
first two days. Two additional reminders elicited
the remainder of responses.
Goals of the survey
• Determine breadth and depth of family engagement
in the schools, as perceived by parents/caregivers
• Identify levels of student engagement in their schools
• Assess effectiveness of school-home communication
• Increase understanding of student life before and
after school
• Identify areas in need of attention
• Build capacity of schools to strengthen school-home
connections
Overview of the survey
• Items represented 5 clusters
• 1. Home-School Communication
• 2. Student Academic Engagement
• 3. Student Social-Emotional Engagement
• 4. Perceptions about Child’s School
• 5. Student Life at Home
Survey says…
8.0%
31.3%
34.3%
19.4%
7.0%
How often are you in touch with teachers at your child’s school?
Almost never
Once or twice per year
Every few months
Monthly
Weekly or more
Survey says…
1.1%
7.6%
23.6%
45.3%
22.4%
How much of a sense of belonging does your child feel at his or her school?
No belonging at all
A little bit of belonging
Some belonging
Quite a bit of belonging
A tremendous amount ofbelonging
Survey says…
1.2%
7.3%
27.6%
46.8%
17.1%
To what extent do you know how your child is doing socially at school?
Not at all
A little bit
Somewhat
Quite a bit
A tremendous amount
Survey says…
1.8% 3.9%
9.7%
34.1%
50.6%
How often do you have conversations with your child about what his or her class is learning at school?
Almost never
Once in a while
Sometimes
Frequently
Almost all the time
Survey says…
2.6%
11.7%
34.8% 39.0%
11.9%
In general, how well does your child learn from feedback about his or her work?
Not well at all
Mildly well
Fairly well
Quite well
Extremely well
Survey says…
1.8%
8.9%
29.2%
43.9%
16.2%
How well do you feel your child’s school is preparing him or her for his or her next academic year?
Not well at all
Mildly well
Fairly well
Quite well
Extremely well
Survey says…
1.8%
6.9%
22.4%
45.2%
23.8%
How well do administrators at your child’s school create a school environment that helps children learn?
Not well at all
Mildly well
Fairly well
Quite well
Extremely well
Survey says…
2.1%
6.6%
21.4%
42.8%
27.1%
How well do you understand the feedback you receive from the school concerning your child’s performance?
Not well at all
Mildly well
Fairly well
Quite well
Extremely well
Survey says…
0.5%
5.6%
21.7%
52.2%
20.0%
To what extent do you think that children enjoy going to your child’s school?
Not at all
A little bit
Somewhat
Quite a bit
A tremendousamount
Survey says…
0.6% 3.1%
14.3%
50.2%
31.8%
Overall, how much respect do you think the teachers at your child’s school have for the children?
Almost no respect
A little bit of respect
Some respect
Quite a bit of respect
A tremendousamount of respect
Survey says…
16.5%
20.1%
30.6%
32.9%
How regularly does your child read for fun?
a) Almost never
b) Once in a while
c) Sometimes
d) Frequently/Almostall the time
Survey says…
38.9%
42.2%
10.4%
1.9%
6.6%
On a typical school day, how much recreational time does your child spend online or on electronic devices (excluding e-readers)?
Less than 1 hour aday
1-2 hours a day
3-4 hours a day
4 or more hours aday
None
School-home connections cluster
• How often are you in touch with teachers at your child’s
school? (Q4)
• How often do you have conversations with your child about what his or her class is learning at school? (Q5)
• How involved have you been with a parent group(s) or an activity sponsored by a parent group at your child’s school? (Q6)
• In the past year, how often have you communicated with the school about ways that you can help your child’s learning at home? (Q11)
• How well do you understand the feedback you receive from the school concerning your child’s performance? (Q25)
• Some teachers use Twitter/Facebook to communicate information to students. How effective do you find this? (Q28)
Results for school-home communication
cluster
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
Almost never Once in a while Sometimes Frequently Almost all the time
10.97%
18.52%
22.44%
27.71%
20.36%
Student academic engagement cluster
• How well do the activities offered at your child’s school
match his or her interests? (Q12)
• How well do the teaching styles of your child’s teachers
match your child’s learning style? (Q13)
• How much effort does your child put into school-related
tasks? (Q15)
• In general, how well does your child learn from feedback
about his or her work? (Q20)
• How well do administrators at your child’s school create a
school environment that helps children learn? (Q23)
Results for student academic engagement
cluster
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
Not well at all Mildly well Fairly well Quite well Extremely well
2.50%
10.62%
30.50%
40.21%
16.18%
Student social-emotional engagement
cluster • How much of a sense of belonging does your child feel at
his or her school? (Q17)
• How comfortable is your child in asking for help from
school adults? (Q18)
• To what extent do you think that children enjoy going to
your child’s school? (Q22)
Results for student social-emotional
engagement cluster
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
2.66%
9.62%
24.96%
44.13%
18.62%
• To what extent do you know how your child is doing socially at school? (Q8)
• How well do you feel your child’s school is preparing him or her for his or her next academic year? (Q19)
• To what extent do you think that children enjoy going to your child’s school? (Q22)
• How well do administrators at your child’s school create a school environment that helps children learn? (Q23)
• Overall, how much respect do you think the teachers at your child’s school have for the children? (Q24)
• How well do you understand the feedback you receive from the school concerning your child’s performance? (Q25)
Perceptions about child’s school cluster
Results for perceptions about child’s school
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
50.00%
Not at all A little bit Somewhat Quite a bit Tremendous amount
What we learned
• Parent response rate was excellent—people seemed to welcome the opportunity to respond—It was a valid sample
• It was very helpful to develop several drafts before launching the survey
• Overall, the schools are appreciated and seen as positive environments for students
• Most students enjoy school
• Results were similar for schools at the same level (all three primary schools, for example)
• There are similarities across schools at different levels (middle and high school, for example)
What we learned
• Parents engage their children in conversations about
the academic and social aspects of school
• Parents are not as involved in school activities and
communicating with teachers as sometimes perceived
• Students are motivated to do well
• Schools are seen as doing a good job of preparing
students for “what comes next”
• Teachers and administrators are viewed as helpful and
respectful
• Students are more organized and self-reliant as
sometimes perceived staff and parents
What we learned
• Students do not read as much or as deeply as we would have
predicted or would like
• Students want to do well, but may not see the long-term value of
the knowledge and skills they acquire
• Some questions may have been misinterpreted or led to
misleading responses (e.g., use of social media)
• While most responses were positive, there is room for
improvement in each dimension
• For example, about 20% of respondents thought their children
were not comfortable or only mildly comfortable asking for help
from adults in school
• Address issues related to depth of reading and the value and
purposes of learning
Next steps
• Share results with school community
• Consider a student survey with similar questions
• Consider a teacher survey
• Expand questions on the next survey to include more of relevance to parents of students with special needs
• Add question(s) about how parents and students get school information
• Use surveys or focus groups to probe topics more deeply (e.g., summer reading for fun, student feelings of efficacy)