2015 Parent Survey Report

2015 Parent Survey Report

Dear St. Mary’s Community: This brochure presents a summary of the results of the 2015 St. Mary’s Parent Survey, which was conducted in March 2015. We are sharing this summary with our community in an effort to provide transparency and to continue to engage in a dialogue about our future plans for St. Mary’s. We want to extend a sincere thank you to all of you who participated. Your feedback is critical to the success of our program, and to our commitment to continually improve all aspects of our school.

We are pleased to report that the survey participation rate exceeded 70 percent. We believe this outstanding response reflects your enthusiasm for St. Mary’s and our shared dedication to your child’s education. If you were unable to complete the survey this year, we encourage your participation in the future. Your input shapes and strengthens our planning, and provides tangible evidence of how our community believes that our school is performing and how well we are meeting your expectations.

This year’s survey was particularly important to the creation of St. Mary’s 2016-2019 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is intended to guide our school through the next few years and beyond. While we employed an outside consulting firm to assist us with our strategic planning process, we relied on your internal feedback when shaping many of the strategic decisions contained in the Plan.

Please know that we thoroughly reviewed your responses and considered your thoughts when creating our Strategic Plan. We value the collaboration with our community and the partnership with our parents. The synergy between parents, faculty and administration is critical to the success of our students. Our commitment to our students--to ensure they are well prepared in heart, mind, body and spirit to be great leaders, critical thinkers, and global citizens--depends on all of us. We recognize each of you as valuable members of our community.

We are grateful for your support, and for sharing your feedback with us. St. Mary’s is stronger for it.

Sincerely, Sharon Taylor Head of School

PARENT SURVEY RESULTS Reading the Data

The Parent Survey provides internal feedback for various areas of our school and educational program, both academic and otherwise, at each division level (Early Education, Lower School, and Middle School). Much of the survey pertains to our curriculum, but it also offers insights into campus facilities, culture, safety and security, and aspects of our program. The survey allows us to assess and understand your values and your perceptions of our school, and how well we are able to meet and exceed your expectations, as well as which factors remain most important to you.

The survey was designed by the Independent School Management (ISM) research team. In March, 2015, ISM sent the surveys to 557 St. Mary’s families and received 391 responses, making our response rate 70.2%. This is an outstanding response rate and, as with any survey data, higher response rates increase the validity of the data. The following is a summary of the feedback from the survey. The survey asked families to rate those factors they deem important in choosing our school, and to rate our various educational programs and other aspects of the school, in a 1 to 5 rating scale, with 5 representing a high level of importance or excellence and 1 representing something that is unimportant or extremely dissatisfying, depending on the particular question.

The survey also provided the opportunity to submit written responses to certain questions, each of which has also been thoroughly reviewed and considered.

All School (391 Responses)

All School

Aspect

How important are the following factors in choosing a school for your child(ren) and deciding to remain at that school?

Aspects

What is your opinion of the following aspects of our school?

Rating Keys

5: Extremely Important 4: Very Important 3: Moderately Important 2: Slightly Important 1: Not at all Important

Rating Keys

5: Excellent 4: Good 3: Fair 2: Poor 1: Very Poor

All parents were asked to rate the important factors in choosing and remaining at a school.

4.86 Quality of Faculty Faculty care and concern 4.81 School atmosphere/culture (caring, positive, etc.)

4.79 Quality of school leadership 4.69 Emphasis on character development/values 4.69 Average number of students per classroom 4.69 Child’s satisfaction and enthusiasm 4.67 Curriculum (courses offered) 4.63 4.60 School safety and security Academic challenge 4.59 Mission/educational philosophy 4.56 Opportunities for development of leadership skills 4.44 Degree of protection from negative influences 4.42 Use of educational technology 4.27 Cost of attending 4.08 Reputation 4.04 4.03 Campus facilities and setting Arts program 3.96 Graduate placement record 3.91 Diversity 3.83 3.82 Size of school (total student body) Service learning/community service program 3.80 Advisory program 3.79 Athletics/P.E. program 3.76 Location/proximity to home 3.52 Co-curricular programs (clubs, etc.)

3.45 Recommendation by friends/acquaintances 3.21 Sibling attends school 3.19

All parents were asked to rate their opinion of the following aspects of St. Mary’s.

School safety and security 4.52 School atmosphere (caring, positive, etc.)

4.46 Average number of students per classroom 4.41 Sense that the school knows your child(ren) 4.37 Head of School 4.37 Size of school (total student body) 4.37 School spirit 4.35 Health services (nurse, infirmary, etc.)

4.31 Reputation 4.23 4.21 Curriculum continuity across grades/divisions Graduate placement record 4.18 Campus settings/grounds 4.16 Campus facilities 4.16 Delivery of mission 4.15 Sense of community/inclusiveness 4.14 Location/proximity to home 3.99 Parent community 3.98 Diversity 3.65 3.40 Dining options

Early Education Program (88 Responses)

Early Education parents were asked to rate the aspects of the Early Education Program.

Early Education Program Early Education parents were asked to rate the programs within the Early Education Program.

Aspect

What is your opinion of the following aspects of the Early Education Program?

Aspect

What is your opinion of the following programs within the E arly Education Program?

Rating Keys

5: Excellent 4: Good 3: Fair 2: Poor 1: Very Poor

Rating Keys

5: Excellent 4: Good 3: Fair 2: Poor 1: Very Poor

Faculty Care and Concern Opportunities for play Responsiveness of teachers to your suggestions/concerns Quality of Faculty Character Development Child(ren’s) satisfaction and enthusiasm Appropriateness of discipline Parent-teacher conferences Teacher-initiated communications Academic Program Personalized instruction/differentiation Use of Educational Technology Quality of Facilities Relations with Peers

4.59 4.58 4.57 4.55 4.53 4.49 4.46 4.45 4.44 4.38 4.33 4.21 4.14 4.11

4.42 Social-emotional skill development Gross motor skill development 4.34 Fine motor skill development 4.34 Writing 4.25 4.25 Art Life skill development 4.24 Reading 4.17 Science 4.14 4.13 Physical Education/Movement Math 4.08 Co-Curricular programs 4.01 Music 3.95 Foreign Language 3.64

LOWER School (243 Responses)

LOWER School

Aspect

What is your opinion of the following aspects of the Lower School?

Aspect

What is your opinion of the following programs within the Lower School?

Rating Keys

5: Excellent 4: Good 3: Fair 2: Poor 1: Very Poor

Rating Keys

5: Excellent 4: Good 3: Fair 2: Poor 1: Very Poor

Lower School parents were asked to rate the aspects of the Lower School experience.

Children’s satisfaction and enthusiasm Faculty Care and Concern Responsiveness of teachers to your suggestions/concerns Parent-teacher conferences Quality of faculty Character Development Quality of facilities Academic program Opportunities for play Relations with peers Use of educational technology Teacher-initiated communications Appropriateness of discipline Quantity of homework Personalized instructions/differentiation Quality of homework

4.45 4.45 4.38 4.38 4.37 4.31 4.25 4.23 4.21 4.16 4.16 4.13 4.03 4.00 3.97 3.96

Lower School parents were asked to rate the programs within the Lower School.

Reading 4.33 Social Studies 4.29 Science 4.28 Visual Arts 4.25 Writing 4.17 4.15 Social-emotional skill development Co-curricular programs 4.14 Life skills development 4.13 Music 4.11 Foreign language 4.10 After-school programs 4.05 Service learning/community service programs 4.04 Performing arts 3.95 Technology/computer instructions 3.87 Math 3.86

Middle School (157 Responses)

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Aspect

What is your opinion of the following aspects of the Middle School?

Aspect

What is your opinion of the following programs within the Middle School?

Rating Keys

5: Excellent 4: Good 3: Fair 2: Poor 1: Very Poor

Rating Keys

5: Excellent 4: Good 3: Fair 2: Poor 1: Very Poor

Middle School parents were asked to rate aspects of the Middle School experience.

Academic Program Use of educational technology Quality of faculty Faculty care and concern Character development Child(ren’s) satisfaction and enthusiasm Quality of facilities Relations with peers School-life balance Parent-teacher conferences Responsiveness of teachers to your suggestions/concerns Quality of homework Personalized instructions/differentiation Appropriateness of discipline Teacher-initiated communications Quantity of homework Communication from your child’s advisor

4.43 4.42 4.37 4.33 4.30 4.29 4.26 4.18 4.09 4.09 4.06 3.99 3.97 3.81 3.80 3.77 3.69

Middle School parents were asked to rate the programs within the Middle School.

English/Language Arts 4.47 Social Studies/history 4.41 Foreign language 4.36 Technology/computer instruction 4.32 Leadership skill development 4.26 Science 4.20 4.15 Life skill development Math 4.11 Advisory program 4.07 Visual arts 4.01 Co-curricular programs 4.01 After-school program 3.95 Performing arts 3.93 Health 3.87 3.83 Service learning/community service program Athletics 3.73 3.60 Physical Education

St. Mary’s School 7 Pursuit Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 www.smaa.org