61 respondents completed the Fall 2013 K-5 Family Survey. The data shows that the great majority
of our families are pleased with how the program is serving their child(ren),
and that there are a few families who do not have that view. Families had
significant consensus about many areas of program strength, while their
concerns fell within a few general areas.
We’re very happy that the data indicates more than 90% of
families believe their child is being well served in both intellectual and
social/emotional development, and that 80% believe that their child is learning
to interact well with the world outside of the school. Narrative comments on program strengths
especially emphasized the high quality of our teachers, and the way in which
this year’s structural re-alignment of grades K-3 seems to be serving the
students much better. Other special highlights called out are the teachers’
attention to detail in the organization and careful implementation of the
classroom routines, structures, and social environment; various elements of the
academic program including the use of projects, the writing program, and math
instruction; and how faculty cultivate a community of intellectual interest
among students. It is also gratifying to see that almost 30% of respondents
went out of their way to write “don’t change anything ” or “we’re very happy”
when asked to identify opportunities for program improvement (rather than
simply skip the question, as others did).
We take seriously those families who feel their children may
not be getting the instruction that they need. Five of the respondents (8%)
expressed concern about the academic program, and a significant group (10
respondents, or 16%) felt neutral about how the program is pursuing the third
segment of the school’s mission to “engage a changing world”. Narrative
comments on areas of needed growth fell into the three categories of teacher
communication/program visibility, the academic program, and the social environment.
Through another layer of analysis, we conclude that these perspectives are a
result of individual experience, perception and preference, and do not result from
specific division-wide systems or curriculum, which we see supported in two aspects
of the data. First, comments within each category generally didn’t cluster: for
example, the seven comments about areas of potential academic improvement covered
six distinct topics, and did not focus on any one field or discipline. Second,
each area of growth named in these responses was also identified as a program
strength by other families multiple times elsewhere in the survey. This does confirm what we already knew
from interactions with families – we have more hard work to do to understand how
to serve some specific children and families more effectively.
We again want to give thanks to those who participated in
the survey. I’ll resist the temptation to go deeper into the data or flesh out specific
comments; I’ve tried to give the data below in a format that helps you see the
nuances of the responses. We value the perspective of our families, and are
committed to both the ongoing assessment of our efforts, and to innovate to
meet the needs of all of the children in our program!
“So far this year, learning
experiences at TBS are…
|
Completely agree
|
Somewhat agree
|
Neutral
|
Somewhat disagree
|
Completely disagree
|
Igniting my child’s curious mind.”
|
38
(62.3%)
|
18
(29.5%)
|
1
(1.6%)
|
3
(4.9%)
|
1
(1.5%)
|
Awakening my child’s generous heart.”
|
28
(45.9%)
|
28
(45.9%)
|
4
(6.6%)
|
1
(1.6%)
|
0
(0%)
|
Building my child’s capacity to engage a changing world.”
|
29
(47.5%)
|
20
(32.8%)
|
10
(16.4%)
|
1
(1.6%)
|
1
(1.6%)
|
Strengths of your child’s
classroom (and number of comments):
The teachers
|
20
|
Grade configuration (single and/or mixed)
|
15
|
Classroom community
|
6
|
Attention to SEL
|
6
|
Organized classroom environment and routines
|
6
|
Projects
|
5
|
Writing
|
4
|
Math
|
4
|
Intellectual community among students
|
4
|
Cultural studies
|
3
|
Classroom libraries
|
3
|
Small class size
|
3
|
Individualized attention to each child
|
3
|
Science
|
2
|
Teacher communication with parents
|
2
|
Teacher creativity
|
2
|
Teacher/student relationships
|
1
|
Learning support
|
1
|
Development of child’s independently
|
1
|
Spontaneous learning opportunities
|
1
|
Opportunities for growth (and
number of comments):
Very happy/nothing
|
9
|
|
|
Better blogs: less “snapshots” and more substance on curriculum
|
3
|
Better/more challenging academics
|
2
|
More community service
|
2
|
More field trips
|
1
|
Make weekly schedule visible to parents
|
1
|
More differentiation
|
1
|
More science and tech of modern era
|
1
|
Better support for cross-grade friendships
|
1
|
More science projects
|
1
|
Better support for the development of internal discipline
|
1
|
More enrichment
|
1
|
Less tech (UE)
|
1
|
Less worksheet (UE)
|
1
|
Better student hygiene
|
1
|
Better math (LE)
|
1
|
Allow more parent involvement in the classroom
|
1
|
Better classroom management
|
1
|
Exec. Functioning skills/tools/teaching
|
1
|
Better classroom cohesiveness
|
1
|
More art
|
1
|
|
|
Admin-specific
topics:
|
|
Better bike path fence screen
|
1
|
Longer time at conferences
|
1
|
Can the K-5 have a dedicated science teacher?
|
1
|
More visible diversity
|
1
|
School needs a gym
|
1
|
Admin has a “bunker mentality”
|
1
|
School needs more open dialogue with parents
|
1
|
Anything else to add (and
number of comments):
My child is under-challenged
|
3
|
I’m concerned the Qs on this survey are too broad to
create change
|
2
|
Provide more access to/reporting from specialists
|
1
|
Does the curriculum support the school’s learning
outcomes?
|
1
|
Make daily curriculum more visible
|
1
|
Curriculum needs better balance b/n advanced concepts and
basic skills
|
1
|
More math instruction
|
1
|
Classroom libraries are uneven/unequal
|
1
|
ExDay timing is less family friendly than before
|
1
|
ExDay is great
|
1
|
School has a good spirit and calm environment
|
1
|
My child is being seen and respected as a complex being
|
1
|
The blogs are great
|
1
|
