Spring-Ford Asking for Student, Parent, Staff Input

Spring-Ford Area School District wants to know what its middle and high school students, teachers and parents think about the school's environment and progress.

In order to gather information, the district has opened up a survey, called the "Perspectives on your School" survey, on the district website.

Parents and students have received invitations to participate already. If not, there's a link on the site to get one via e-mail.

Purposes of survey

Superintendent Dr. David Goodin said that the survey furthers Spring-Ford's mission and vision. 

"Our vision is to be the educational provider of choice for parents," Goodin said. 

To that end, the survey asks questions in three areas: academic relevance, focus on achievement, and priority of people.

Academic relevance includes how well the district's classes prepare students for life after high school, whether that's college, a career, or any other choice. 

"If we're teaching math concepts, we want to know how that translates to real life," Goodin said. 

The survey can also be tweaked to focus on specific issues. As an example, Goodin said, they could use the survey to gauge support for new programs. 

Getting and applying results

Once the survey closes the district will get a report on how people answered the survey.

In March of this year, students, parents and teachers participated in the first "Perspectives on your School" survey. Goodin said they had very good responses - 31 percent of parents, 71 percent of teachers and and 47 percent of students responded. 

"There was nothing really surprising," Goodin said. "The perception of all three groups was very positive."

March's survey will also serve as a baseline measurement for future surveys. 

Future plans

Goodin said the district will be doing regular surveys throughout the school year this year and in the future. 

January will bring a student and employee engagement survey. September will see another school climate survey like the current one, and March will bring a survey for parents, staff and community members. 

Doing regular surveys, Goodin said, allows the district to "continue gauging perception and explain the purpose of some things." 

"These surveys are set up to be a two-way communication tool," Goodin said. 

To see the results of the last two surveys, visit Spring-Ford's website and click on the Your Voice button. Scroll to the bottom of the screen, and you can see the results available from the last two surveys.  

Parents and students have until Wednesday, December 12 to fill out the current survey.