Overview

Parent and community surveys provide the essential information a school or school district needs to make informed decisions. A statistically representative survey reaches parents and community members across the district, to measure their support or to evaluate the district’s progress. These surveys also provide an excellent opportunity for parents and community members to express their needs and concerns to the district. By asking parents and community members for their opinion, the school district reinforces its accountability and responsiveness to the community.

Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. customizes each parent and community survey to meet the specific information needs of the school district. Community surveys are typically conducted by telephone as this method provides the most statistically accurate sample, while parent surveys can be conducted by mail, telephone, or distributed to the students to take home. Once the information is obtained, Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. analyzes the information and provides direction for planning purposes.

Parent and Community Surveys

Parent and community surveys have most commonly been used for:

• Understanding the awareness, perception and potential support of parents and residents
• Understanding and managing the service and communication expectations of parents and residents
• Measuring the use of services and programs, and evaluating parents’ and residents’ experiences with the services and programs
• Benchmarking for performance improvement in areas like customer service

Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. has developed a simple process for conducting parent and community surveys. The process begins by meeting with the school board and administration to identify the issues of concern. The survey is then developed to address those issues and meet generally accepted survey practices. On average, telephone surveys are ten minutes in length, while mail surveys or surveys distributed amongst the students to take home average 2 to 4 pages. Analysis of the data and preparation of the report is completed within a few weeks of receiving the completed surveys. The staff of Perspectives Consulting Group, Inc. will present the survey results as desired by the school district – publicly and/or with board and administration individually. Most parent and community surveys require between ten and twelve weeks to complete depending on the amount of time required to develop the survey. The cost depends on the number of parents and citizens to be surveyed and the length of the survey.

Parent and Community Survey Topics

The following outline lists topics that could be included on a survey:

Parent Issues

• Understand parents’ needs and expectations of the school district
• Measure how the school district is meeting the needs and expectations of the parents
• Evaluate the programs and services offered at the school district
• Evaluate the facility issues such as cleanliness, appearance, safety
• Understand parents’ perceptions of the school district compared to other school districts
• Discover issues of concern for parents such as safety, gangs, drugs
• Demographics such as age, income, age of children attending school, ethnic background

Community Issues

• Satisfaction with district budget priorities, allocations, taxes
• Evaluate facility issues such as cleanliness, appearance, safety
• Perceptions of the school district compared to other districts
• Discover issues of concern for the community such as safety, gangs, drugs
• Information sources used by community members
• Demographics such as age, income, children attend schools, participate in voting

Case Study

View a case study from Perspectives Consulting Group’s work with educational institutions