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Arkport Central Looks at Survey Results

March 31, 2016
 
 
ARKPORT, NY – Arkport Central School says that they’re looking over the feedback from local voters who took part in recent online surveys.
 
Arkport Central School District administrators have received and are now digging into the results of the online surveys conducted earlier this year.
 
The district partnered with School Communications Performance Evaluation (SCoPE) Surveys to administer three surveys – one each for community, faculty/staff and parents/families – to help Arkport evaluate the effectiveness of its communication with these key groups.
“I want to thank everyone in Arkport who took the time to give us valuable feedback,” Superintendent of Schools Glenn Niles said. “SCoPE has provided us with loads of data, which frankly we’re still in the process of analyzing. But we already have a strong sense of what our community thinks and expects of our communication efforts, and soon we’ll plan next steps to help us understand why.”
The participation period for the surveys extended from Jan. 11 through Feb. 9. During that time, 74 percent of 100 faculty and staff members completed their 70-question survey, generating a margin of error of plus or minus 5.9 percentage points. For the 76-question parents/families survey, 13.8 percent (65 of 470) participated, for a margin of error of plus or minus 11.5 percentage points. Unfortunately, because the response rate for the community survey was exceptionally low – less than 2 percent of Arkport residents, or 37 of 2,808 potential respondents – the district was not able to garner any reliable insights from this population.
The parent and faculty surveys identified several areas of strength as well as opportunity in the district’s efforts to communicate with its constituents.
Some highlights:
 Overall satisfaction: Faculty and staff members indicated a high level of overall satisfaction with the district’s communication, with 88 percent giving a grade of average, very good or excellent. Likewise, 83 percent of parents were satisfied overall.
 Understandability, reputation: Eighty-eight percent of employees said communication from the school/district was understandable, and 84 percent said Arkport’s reputation was a significant factor in their decision to work for the district.
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 Timeliness: Most parents indicated the district’s communication was timely (82 percent) and understandable (88 percent).
 Transparency: A majority of employees said communication was transparent (61 percent) and timely (70 percent).
 Engagement: Most parents said they felt informed about their child’s progress in school (66 percent) and how to direct questions, concerns or complaints (74 percent).
Areas in need of improvement:
 District finances: 30 percent of employees and 29 percent of parents said they were well-informed about the district’s fiscal situation.
 Leadership decisions: 30 percent of faculty and staff respondents said they were satisfied with the level of communication about school and district leader decisions.
 Success stories: 33 percent of employees rate the district well for communicating about faculty and staff success, and 35 percent for student success and achievement.
 Goals: A quarter of parents expressed satisfaction with the district’s communication about the use of technology in the classroom.
In coming weeks, the district plans to conduct focus groups with some respondents to help administrators address and prioritize areas where performance indicated needing improvement. Additional information will be posted on the district website soon.
The complete summary reports of all three SCoPE surveys are available in the district office and online (www.arkportcsd.org).


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