Parent Letter on Education Surveys

Dear Faculty –

After Wednesday’s meeting we received some good feedback from faculty members regarding the education surveys. Here is what we heard:

Q: Is a four-point Likert scale too restrictive (this was feedback on the administrator surveys last year as well)? Should we consider five or more points on the scale?

A: While we considered other scales (intentionally focusing on even numbers), we eventually decided that six or more items on the scale would be too confusing to younger students and that the benefit of “all school” data was a priority. For now, we are keeping to a four-point scale.

Q: Should other edits be made to the questions (e.g. a more focused “Balance in Life” question, examples after each question for areas the student might consider when answering, splitting apart questions which seems to contain two foci such as “productive and fair,” or “reflect and monitor)?

A: We think these questions raised by faculty are good ones and worth looking into. What we will do is look to evaluate the survey instrument with divisional focus groups of faculty after this round and see it the survey should be modified for the future.

A “thank you” to all who sent in suggestions.

The following communications is being shared with parents today so that they are aware of the coming surveys.

Mark

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Dear SSIS Parents,

At Saigon South International School we believe that each individual in our community can benefit from honest, helpful and supportive feedback from those most affected by his or her work. We often use surveys as the means to offer this feedback. For example, the climate survey is a chance for parents and teachers to share their perception of the school with the school leadership. Teachers take part in administrator surveys on the head of school, the principals, and other members of the administrative team to help us do our jobs better.

This month we will ask students to do the same with education surveys. Students in Grades 3-12 will give their perspective on their experience in the classroom setting  through anonymous surveys, telling their teachers how they are doing in supporting the SSIS Core Values: Academic Excellence, a Sense of Self, Dedicated Service, Balance in Life, and Respect for All. You can find copies of the survey questions below.

The purpose of these surveys is to understand how students feel we are doing in delivering a holistic education at SSIS, to praise what is going well, and to offer suggestions for improvement.

We are very confident that our students can provide us with important insights. The results of these surveys will be shared with the classroom teacher and the school administration to make their educational experience even more valuable.

Sincerely,

Mark Iver Sylte

Head of School