Newton Public Schools Family-School Communication Survey Summary of Pilot Survey Results December 14 th, 2015

Survey Details Result of the work by the Communications Subcommittee over the past year Developed and implemented by Panorama Education, national firm focused on student and family surveying Survey Goals: Assess perceptions of our current efforts at family engagement and communication Develop data to inform efforts to improve communications with parents and families Test the viability of online surveying and the Panorama platform for surveys

Survey Details Survey sent via invitation to a web-based survey. All parents and guardians of students in grades 3, 7, and 10 October 19 th through November 6 th 18 generic questions from Panorama Education’s bank of nationally tested questions 27 Newton specific questions on current NPS communication, social media usage, and family preferences for receiving and seeking out information

Response Rates Overall response rate of 28%. 3 rd Grade responses % 7 th Grade responses % 10 th Grade responses % Response rates significantly lower for several sub groups, including: African-American, Latino, & Asian race/ethnicities Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, & Russian languages Generally representative of gender and IEP-status

Data Overview 1.Parents /guardians overall feel well-informed by NPS communications, and also have specific requests for improving classroom, school and district communication 2.Parents/guardians report they are too busy for engagement with school 3.Parents/guardians report that they feel teachers are too busy to engage with them 4.Parents/guardians feel it is the district and school’s responsibility to communicate with parents and families 5.Parents/guardians prefer for communications, except in emergencies and closures, where they would prefer a text

Overall Satisfaction

Finding Information

Preferred Communication

Social Media Usage Parents are more likely to use Facebook than Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn 64% of families of use Facebook either multiple times a day, multiple times a week, or weekly Over 75% of respondents don’t have access to or almost never use Twitter and Instagram Over 55% of respondents don’t have access to or almost never use LinkedIn Parents in 3 rd grade use social media more than 7 th and 10 th grade parents Many negative comments regarding social media in open-ended responses.

Website Feedback - District

Website Feedback-School

Website Feedback-Teacher

Emergency Communications Parents had multiple preferences for emergency communications, including cancellations. Text message, , & automated phone call were most popular. Social media was least preferred, with just 55 positive responses.