The community satisfaction survey tells the story

George Bernard Shaw once said that, “It is the mark of a truly intelligent person to be moved by statistics.”

While I don’t expect anyone to be moved by the results of our satisfaction survey, but I was buoyed by the positive results.

It has been a traditional activity at SAS to collect information from our parent community about their satisfaction of the programs and ancillary services at SAS.  This collection of

statistics has been quoted in annual reports, as they are this year, used in accreditation and quoted by administrators and board members.  I don’t know if the aforementioned Mr. Shaw was right but the SAS community may consider the following numbers as a clear indication of our school community’s belief in our programs. It is clear from the respondents, that the community seems happy with the programs provided for their children.

According to the results of the 2009-2010 SAS Community Satisfaction Survey say that…
90% strongly agree or agree that their children are happy at Shanghai American School.  Among the respondents only 8 people responded with a disagree or strongly disagree response. 84% of the respondents strongly agree or agree that SAS is an outstanding school that meets the needs of their children and their family.
95% and 96% respectively goes to the security and safety measures at SAS.  The community respondents feel that the school is both safe and secure as well as well maintained.
Shanghai American School is a well-resourced school with excellent technology resources for our students.  87% of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed that SAS has very good educational resources and 82% felt strongly that the technology resources were strong.  
85% strongly agree or agree that high quality instruction is provided in the Language Arts (English speaking, reading and writing).
85% strongly agree or agree that the instruction in Physical Education is of high quality.

Science, mathematics, social studies, Chinese, French and Spanish languages are also believed to be strong by our school community.  These areas average to 75% with the low percentage being Math and the high returns to the languages.  

Resources for parents and families also saw a dramatic increase in this years survey. Responding to strongly agree or agree the SAS parent community believe that SAS uses technology to share information (86%), that parents feel welcome at the school (82%), and showing a 21 point percentage jump, parents reported that they were able to access the online teacher survey.

Teachers and their efforts do not go unnoticed. Parents report that the reporting and grading practices are clear and easy to understand. They report that teachers have high expectations and challenge the SAS students to do their best work.

85% of parents feel that the counseling services support their child’s learning, social and emotional development. 
70% of parents strongly agree or agree that the board and administration effectively guide the work of the school and keep them informed of what is going on in the community. This measure shows an 11 percentage point jump from last year.

The survey, by and large, is very positive and in nearly all categories there were some increases. This being only the 2nd year that we have used this version of the survey, I believe it may be a bit premature to make any assumptions from our work. Areas that need to be watched or more questions need to be asked focus on:

45% of the parent community feels we use financial resources appropriately. It should be noted that this figure increased 7% from last year.
54% of the parent community believes that the board is effective in doing their work. This number is up 13 percentage points from last year.
40% believe that the food service is a good value.
56% believe the transportation operations are safely operated. 
The entire community satisfaction survey summary can be found in the 2010 Annual Report being sent home in the month of May.  
Parent-To-Teacher Survey Numbers Jump by 50%

Another important survey administered this year was the Parent –to- Teacher Feedback Survey.  This year the numbers of submitted surveys jumped dramatically.   The results are:
4055 individual surveys submitted by 915 different parents to 316 teachers. This is an increase of over 50% from last year in all areas.  Last year, on average teachers received feedback from only 6 parents. This year that figure more than doubles to 13 surveys per teacher.

Teachers use the feedback in their annual evaluation review and the information is included in their professional portfolio.

It should be noted that 100% of the students at SAS were given the opportunity to give anonymous feedback to their teachers this spring.
By Andrew TORRIS, Deputy Superintendent