District Wide Parent-Guardian and Student Survey

This spring, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) is administering the annual District-wide surveys to collect feedback from parents/guardians, students, teachers, and principals about the quality of education in District and Charter schools in Philadelphia. The information captured in the surveys is critical to improving the learning environment at each school and supporting a dialogue among members of the school community about how to make each school a better place to learn.

We want your feedback!  The Parent & Guardian Survey is a way for you to voice your opinion on your child’s school. Take the survey by visiting www.philasd.org/parentsurvey.  Please take the survey for each of your children.

Background

The surveys were designed over a period of two years in collaboration with numerous stakeholder groups and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. The surveys are based on seminal research from the University of Chicago.

This document provides an overview of information related to the 2015-2016 survey administration, including important details about how to administer and take the surveys, how the results will be used, and where you can find up-to-date information about all aspects of the survey.

Use of Survey Data

The surveys are intended to help you, the charter school’s Board of Trustees, and other stakeholders understand what specific members of the school community think about the learning environment at each school. Information captured by the surveys can be used to support a dialogue among all members of the school community about how to make each school a better place to learn.

Specifically, information from the surveys will be used as follows:

  • Student and parent/guardian survey responses and the parent/guardian response rate will be incorporated into the District’s School Progress Report (SPR) as a measure of school climate and parent engagement, respectively;

  • Survey results will be aggregated and shared publically via an interactive website that allows any user to view results by school and by question. Principal survey results are aggregated at a more broad level (i.e. school type, region, etc.), to protect the confidentiality of the principals’ responses. Results from last year’s survey can be seen here: http://schoolsurveys.philasd.org/;

  • Survey results will be used to evaluate educational programming and for other research projects related to improving educational outcomes for students.

    Information collected from the surveys will not be used:

  • In any manner that is inconsistent with or in violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA);

  • For individual evaluations or ratings, such as for teacher or principal evaluation; or

  • To report on the opinions or ideas of individuals. 

Administration Logistics

Who: Surveys will be available for District and Charter:

  1. Parents/guardians;

  2. Students in grades 3-12;

  3. Teachers; and

  4. Principals/instructional leaders

When: The administration windows for each survey are as follows:

  •   Parent & Guardian Survey:

  •   Student Survey:

  •   Teacher Survey:

  •   Principal Survey:

beginning March 31 - June 27, 2016 beginning March 31 - June 27, 2016 May 3 - May 27, 2016
May 10 - May 27, 2016

Where: The surveys will be available online via Survey Monkey.

Parents can access the District-wide Parent & Guardian Survey by visiting www.philasd.org/parentsurvey. To access the survey, parents/guardians must enter their child’s School District of Philadelphia Student ID Number. Parents/guardians are encouraged to contact their child’s charter school if they do not know their child’s School District of Philadelphia Student ID Number.

The District-wide Parent & Guardian Survey will be available online in ten (10) languages: English, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Russian, Nepali, Khmer, Chinese, Arabic, and Albanian. The District-wide Student Survey, Teacher Survey, and Principal Survey will be available in English only.

The surveys can be completed on any computer, tablet or Smartphone with internet access. Parents/guardians who do not have access to one of these devices or the internet are encouraged to take the survey by visiting any Free Library of Philadelphia KEYSPOT location (a list of which is available at phillykeyspots.org/keyspot-finder). Parents/guardians may also be able to take the survey at their child’s charter school; please contact your child’s school for more information.

 

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