The parent survey is one of the few ways some of our parents feel comfortable providing specific feedback and concerns. Most believe the survey to be anonymous, so they are more honest than they would be otherwise. (For the most part, the survey is anonymous, as I am the only one with access to the full results; when I compile the answers, names and emails are not associated with the comments.) There is an option for them to add comments after many of the questions so that they can provide specific examples or clarify their rating. Not all of our parents enter comments, but those who do sometimes need more than 500 characters. Knowing this limitation, I included instructions at the beginning of the survey suggesting that they could write their comments in an email or document and send them directly to me, promising that I would add those comments anonymously to the compiled results. Only one parent took advantage of this suggestion. This could be either because they didn't believe that it would remain anonymous, or because they did not read the "instructions". Both scenarios are very likely. The most common comment I received in this survey had to do with the survey itself. Several parents complained about the new system (thought they were not specific about what they didn't like about it), and nearly all of those complaints included something to the effect of "you need to give us more than 500 characters for comments." Basically, this year-end survey gives parents an opportunity to voice their complements, concerns, etc. While the comments can bring clarity to some of the data, we do focus on the data over the comments. But the comments are part of our parents feeling like they were heard and their frustration with the system this year proved that it is an important part of the process for our parents.
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