The 2014 parent engagement survey - gardencity.k12.ny.us · Agenda •Background •Why did we survey parents? •The importance of parent engagement •Survey design •Implementation

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)