Reflections on the 2016 Head of School Survey

Dear Faculty and Staff –

We are in our second round of surveys, with faculty and staff invited to complete feedback surveys for their divisional principal (elementary, middle, or high school). Those of us involved cannot thank you enough for the time you have spent on these. We have decided to leave the principal surveys open until Friday of this week (25 March 2016) as we know how busy you are with end-of-the-quarter grades and comments.

My own Head of School Survey was completed a couple of weeks ago. Ms. Ha Noi, HRD Manager, tabulated all the responses and provided me with composite data and the free responses. The good news was that every question showed positive growth and all questions returned a majority of “positive” responses.

To share these with the board, additional views were created along with the raw data. First, the responses to the survey questions were expressed as percentages of “positive” (strongly agree + agree) and “negative” (disagree + strongly disagree). While the separate four categories are useful, grouping them in this way helped to clarify things. Second, some questions were also calculated by division to see if there were other trends to be seen.

This past weekend I had a Skype call with the board chair during which we discussed the survey responses and the free response questions. Asked to analyze the survey, I broke the responses into three groups.

1. Questions where the percentage of “positive” responses were extremely high last year and which were high again this year.
2. Questions where the percentage of “positive” responses had grown significantly this year and were now in a very good range.
3. Questions where, even if  the majority of responses were “positive” and there had been growth year-over-year, I felt the area should be a priority for my attention now and next year.

Group 1

The questions which continued to show the very highest agreement were the following (other questions fell into this category as well, but the six mentioned below were the strongest.):

1. Q12: Support for professional development.
2. Q25: Making time for individual faculty.
3. Q34: Making sure faculty have the resources they need.
4. Q32: Devoting energy to the improvement of the campus.
5. Q21: Appreciation for cultural differences.
6. Q29: Support for the definition of the SSIS written curriculum.

Now I hope it goes without saying that these areas are certainly not ones for which I take sole credit. The admin team in general, Molly, Dan, Jacob and their leadership teams, Wai Mun and the facilities and maintenance staff, the Business Office, HRD, Tina and the curriculum office staff, our coaches and TLFs, grade level leaders and department heads — all these people and more play a big part in our success. Still, I do think we are doing very well in these areas and that they are strengths here at SSIS. I am very happy that professional development is at the top of the list of faculty & staff satisfaction.

Group 2

The following questions showed excellent growth and satisfaction:

1. Q22: Providing timely information.
2. Q23: Communicating opening about issues.
3. Q14: Balancing teacher needs with needs of the school.
4. Q15: Knowing something about teachers/staff outside of work responsibilities.
5. Q06: Having a vision closely aligned with my own (that is, with the individual teacher).
6. Q04: Communication of the Strategic Plan

While I am really happy that these areas advanced as much as they did, I still have questions. Providing timely information scores very well, but only about 50% say they read this blog “always” or “often.” How should I best communicate other than meetings? Likewise, while many felt their division was making great strides in areas like curriculum, they thought there should be more information sharing and visibility on my part. I was really pleased to see an increase in the belief that there is a shared vision for SSIS between the faculty and me. There is no better feeling than to be able to engage in work about which we are all passionate. One point that I actually question is the satisfaction with the communication of the Strategic Plan, something I think I need to do better. That is why it appears again under areas of concentration below.

Group 3

While I am really pleased that every single question on the survey returned a majority of positive responses, and all improved over last year, there are four areas I’ve chosen as my areas to focus on for the rest of this year and next.

From the survey responses and written comments it was evident that the more our faculty and staff feel that the vision and direction of the school has been made clear (which includes the work of the Strategic Plan and WASC Self-Study), the better they feel overall about the school. This doesn’t have to be done through meetings alone, as was expressed with the requests that I be more visible during the school day.

Indeed, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to be out and about in the school. The sixth grade “Dragon’s Apprentice,” the fifth grade “Change Makers,” persuasive speeches by English students in high school, the fourth grade kickoff of the super unit on Vietnam (and the film festival that concluded it), or the upcoming Grade 1 Habitat Proposals – being present at these events  and others makes everything else I do worthwhile. Dan, Molly, Jacob and I have worked out some ideas to make sure I have more opportunities to see the great work happening in your classrooms and spaces.

So I have identified the following areas that I want to concentrate on going forward:

1. Q03: Communicating the Vision and Direction of the School.
2. Q04: Communicating the Strategic Plan.
3. Q18: Visibility during the school day.
4. Q13: Positively influencing the morale of the school.

Communication will come in a variety of ways, from continuing to share how we are implementing our Strategic Plan across the divisions to showcasing new and expanded programs which are evolving around the school. The principals will work with me on getting into as many classrooms as I can, scheduling some of our meetings as walk-throughs of the divisions to see more of the teaching and learning you are doing with our students. From this, I believe, we will become and even more exciting place to work and grow.

The free response questions ran the gamut. Approximately one-third of respondents added a written comment to at least one of the free response boxes. Of those, about one-third were complementary, one-third were suggestions for general school improvement, and one-third were critical in some way. Again, all responses were read by both me and the board chair. Contrary to what some have requested, though, we do not share out the free responses. Some of these are intensely personal and private for those who authored them. Please know, however, that all are read and all provide food for reflection.

I want to mention one suggestion which was put forward by several—the addition of a fifth, middle option to our survey questions. Looking at the research on four-point and five-point scales, there really is no good evidence that one system is more reliable than the other. Indeed, just as many of you said “I was conflicted and had to put “agree” even though I wasn’t sure,” as said “I was conflicted and had to put “disagree” even though I wasn’t sure.” For now, we’ll leave the scales the way they are for the benefit of year-over-year data comparison.

A “thank you,” again, to all for taking time to fill out the Head of School survey and to those who also provided free responses of commendation, commentary, or concern. I appreciated each one.

Sincerely yours,
Mark