A New Look: The Importance of K-12 Surveys From a Principal's Perspective

The following blog post is written by Al Remaly. In the blog post below, Al share's his knowledge and experience of surveys in K-12 education from the perspective of a principal. Al is the former president of the Indiana Association of School Principals as well as a former principal and superintendent.

Surveys are great tools for principals to engage with and understand the perspectives and concerns of parents within the school community. Principals may choose to survey parents under various circumstances, each aimed at fostering partnership, improving communication, and enhancing parental involvement in their child's education.

The most common time in which principals regularly survey parents is during the strategic planning process.  Strategic planning is often used for the district to adapt to changing demographics, updating educational programs, and the shaping of the schools vision, mission, and goals.  It is essential to include parents so they can voice their thoughts on how their child’s education may be impacted. 

Another use of surveys by principals is to gather input on how satisfied parents are with the curricular offerings, other academic programs, extracurricular activities, communication, and their perceptions of the school climate and culture. By soliciting their input, principals can gain valuable insight into the strengths and areas of improvement from the parents perspective. Using surveys for these reasons help facilitate communication and dialogue between principals and parents. This can help build a sense of transparency, trust, and willingness to collaborate. 

Principals are always interested in how involved parents are with their students. A survey could be used to assess the parents level of engagement in their child's education. The data can also be used to identify barriers, from the parent perspective, and help provide guidance to principals on how to overcome them. As parents seem to be less involved in recent years, the data could be essential to developing programs that could foster more school/parent communication. 

Surveys are tools that principals must use to engage parents and the school community. The data provided enables principals to gain a better insight into the parents perspectives, concerns, and opinions on the culture and climate of the school. The use of surveys also promotes effective communication and allows parents to play an active role in their child’s educational journey.