Surveys offer schools valuable information from stakeholders in the school community. SAIS offers a variety of survey options developed to gather feedback from parents, students, faculty, and trustees.

School Community Feedback Survey

For parents, faculty, and upper school students, the School Community Feedback Survey is designed to help schools understand the expectations of their stakeholders and how well the school is meeting those expectations. Questions cover areas such as curriculum and program, classroom experience, student support, and collects Net Promoter Scores® from all participants. Respondents have the option to share narrative comments and schools have the ability to add custom questions.

Previously known as the Value Narrative Survey, this instrument received a thorough revision in the Summer of 2021. The survey has been updated to reflect current events and concerns that schools are facing. After completing demographic questions, respondents are asked to provide feedback in eleven different categories from mission and engagement to safety and security. Within each category, stakeholders are asked to rate specific items like social-emotional learning, variety of offerings, collaboration, and mission alignment as more than expected, as expected, or less than expected.

Schools often choose to use this survey during the accreditation process as they begin their self-study. Schools are encouraged to deploy the survey about 12-18 months before their scheduled accreditation visit. Many will repeat the survey every three years. Schools may also choose to alternate the School Community Feedback Survey with the Net Promoter Score® only survey. This brief survey is a great snapshot of stakeholder satisfaction in alternate years.

Results from the survey are compiled and sent to the school approximately 10-14 days after the survey closes. Reports are presented with comparison ready disaggregation of stakeholder groups. There is no individual identifying information in the reports to maintain the anonymity of the respondents.

SAIS maintains median Net Promoter Scores® for parents, students, and faculty and parent response rates to offer context for your results. We will begin compiling general benchmark reports from the updated version of the survey that will be shared in the coming months.

Motivation and Engagement Survey

The Motivation and Engagement Survey for students and /or faculty gives administrators important windows into the self-reported mindsets of staff and students. Motivation and engagement are leading indicators into the strength of the school’s learning community. The Motivation and Engagement Survey focuses specifically on the three core psychological needs connected to internal motivation: autonomy, belonging, and competence. The survey is designed to be a snapshot, offering a quick look at these three core needs. The survey may be given to faculty and staff or students in grades 6-12.

Governance Health Check

The SAIS Governance Health Check measures how well the board executes on its commitment to best practices in independent school governance in its day-to-day work within the five domains of board governance: roles and responsibilities, structure and operations, culture, board-head partnership, and strategic mindset. Within these domains, trustees are asked to respond to items focused on the budgeting process, donor cultivation, recruitment of board members, mission alignment, strategic thinking, long-range planning, and others.

To learn more about these survey options please visit the Survey Center webpage.