The SAIS School Community Feedback Survey is designed to help schools gather data on how well the school is meeting expectations of parents and families, faculty and staff, and current upper school students.
All survey slots for September and October 2023 are filled. We are currently scheduling deployments after 10/25/23.
The survey has been updated to reflect current events and concerns that schools are facing. Schools should preview the surveys to make sure they are appropriate for your school audiences.
Schools can choose to remove questions or selections as appropriate for your school and culture. Schools also have the ability to add their own questions for an additional fee.
After completing the demographic questions, respondents are asked to provide feedback in eleven different categories from mission and engagement to safety and security. Within each category are specific items.
At the item level, respondents indicate to what extent the school is meeting their expectations. The respondent also answers whether or not they would recommend the school with an opportunity to provide narrative comments. The sample question below shows how the survey question will appear for stakeholders.
Survey Preview
The survey has been updated to reflect current events and concerns that schools are facing. Please preview the surveys to make sure they are appropriate for your environment. Non-member schools who wish to preview the surveys, please contact surveys@sais.org.
School Report
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.
An optional custom virtual workshop is available for $400. This will provide an in-depth and personalized analysis and is delivered as a 75-minute live virtual session. You will have the opportunity to purchase this workshop when you receive your survey results.
By using a third party such as SAIS, your stakeholders will have a higher confidence level in the integrity and validity of the survey process. Also, SAIS is able to send follow-up emails to the people who have not yet responded to the survey.
The initial message announcing the survey should come from a recognized and credible source, such as the head of school. There is compelling research indicating that a pre-survey announcement from a trusted source increases response rates.
The average amount of time to complete the survey is 10 minutes.
Yes. If you do wish to request additional questions please contact surveys@sais.org. Additional fees apply are noted above for each open-ended question and matrix/rating/multiple choice question.
The phrasing and format of the questions support survey validation and benchmarking efforts. If you have questions in this area, please contact surveys@sais.org.
Yes. Remember, this survey is establishing how well the school is meeting expectations. Just because you don’t offer something doesn’t mean your stakeholders don’t have expectations in that area (nor does it imply that you should start offering it).
We can provide a web link for this group. However, in that case we aren’t able to send reminders or monitor who has or hasn’t completed the survey. If it is necessary to use a single web link for this group, we recommend arranging for students to take the survey all at one time or during a specific class. If this is the scenario that best meets your needs, be sure to select the web link for students option when you register for the survey.
You may choose to include them in both the faculty and parent survey. They would receive two separate email invitations. Let them know to expect two surveys and answer each from the appropriate perspective.
We found that the trustee group was often too small to be statistically significant, and schools often placed too much weight on responses from such a small group. We also found that alumni were often too far removed, by geography or years, to appropriately comment on the current status of the school. Alumni reflections on their experiences can cloud the present day picture of the school. Trustees and alumni who are parents of current students can be included in the parent survey group.
