OPEN NOW: 2016-2017 PARENT SURVEY!

It's that time again: Parent Survey season is upon us! We strongly encourage all families to take the survey so that we can know how to better serve and support you and your students.

This spring, the School District of Philadelphia's Office of Research and Evaluation will administer 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 supporting a dialogue among members of the school community about how to make each school a better place to learn.

About the District-wide Surveys

The surveys will be available online via Survey Monkey. Parents/guardians can access the District-wide Parent & Guardian Survey by visiting the Parent Portal (District schools only), www.philasd.org/parentsurvey, or through the link posted on the District’s homepage.
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 their child’s school or any Free Library of Philadelphia KEYSPOT location (a list of which is available at phillykeyspots.org/keyspot-finder).
The District-wide Parent & Guardian Survey will be available online in nine (9) languages: English, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Russian, Khmer, Chinese, Arabic, and Albanian.
To access the survey, parents/guardians must enter their child’s School District of Philadelphia Student ID Number. This can be found on their child’s report card or by calling the school.
Parents/guardians are encouraged to take the survey for each of their children. Every child’s experience in school is different, and completing the surveys separately lets parents report on each child’s experience separately. It should take approximately 10 minutes for a parent/guardian to complete one survey.
The final page of the survey this year has an optional space to enter the student ID and can be printed or photographed and saved. This allows parent/guardians to have a record of taking the survey.
Respondents should not be influenced to answer any items in a particular manner.
Schools may have a limited number of paper copies. Principals can request paper copies for the parent survey (up to ten percent of their school enrollment). Paper copies can be used for parent/guardians who cannot take the survey online. Paper copies MUST have a valid student ID in order to be counted. Please refer to District-wide Parent & Guardian Paper Survey Instructions for additional information.

Tips and Strategies

1. Encourage parents/guardians to take the survey when they are at the school for meetings, conferences, events, sports games, or drop-off and pick-up. Schools have used these strategies:

Have a laptop(s) set up in the office for parents/guardians to use.
Make sure the computer lab is open and accessible to parents/guardians at school events.
Encourage teachers to set up a laptop in their classrooms or in the school where they can direct parents/guardians during parent/teacher conferences.
Hand out flyers during drop-off and pick-up and have them readily available in the office if parents/guardians cannot stay to complete the survey. A printable flyer will be available on ORE’s website.

2. Promote the survey through regular parent communication channels (newsletters, email blasts, school messenger, class dojo) and share the link in an electronic format when possible, making it easy for parents/guardians to “click and go.”

Remind parents/guardians that they can complete the survey on their smartphone.
Ask other parents/guardians to spread the word about the surveys.

3. Offer to arrange for parents/guardians who don’t have computers, or who don’t feel comfortable using a computer, to come to the school for help in taking the survey.

Have a designated “safe space” at the school so parents/guardians feel comfortable answering the survey questions honestly. If your school has a parent welcome or resource center, you can use this space.
If your school has a Bilingual Counseling Assistant (BCA), work with him or her to get translation services for parent/guardians with limited English proficiency.

4. Provide incentives for completing the survey. Some ideas include:

The classroom or grade with the most parent/guardian responses gets a pizza party or a dress down day or something similar.
Organize a school-wide celebration if the school target is met by the end of the school year.

5. Get students involved!

Student-made posters hung up at the school can be motivating for students and parents/guardians. A poster competition could make it even more fun – the winning poster could be copied and used across the District next year.
Set up a photo wall where students and parents/guardians can take and post pictures of themselves taking the survey.
Get student councils involved. Ask them for ideas about encouraging participation.

Additional Information and Support Important

District-wide Survey information, including schedules, resources, and archives from previous survey years is updated regularly and available on ORE’s survey page: http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/r/res-eval/district-wide-surveys

Interactive results from last year are available online: http://schoolsurveys.philasd.org/

A survey hotline is accessible M- F, 8:30am – 4:30pm at 215-400-6565.

Support is also available by email at parentsurveyinfo@philasd.org.

You should also feel welcome to reach out to a member of the Office of Research and Evaluation survey team at any time with any questions, concerns, or needs.