BARRHEAD/WESTLOCK — The annual Pembina Hills Satisfaction Survey yielded a few surprises this year, including a big dip in parent participation and parent satisfaction with student discipline, as well as a sizeable uptick in perceptions around principal/associate principal participation in classrooms.
Otherwise, many of the results from the 2023-24 Satisfaction Survey — which was presented to Pembina Hills trustees at their April 17 meeting — were in line with the 2022-23 results.
The annual satisfaction survey is completed online by all school staff and Grade 4-12 students within Pembina Hills at the end of January or early February.
Parents are also invited to complete the online survey via an e-mail sent to all addresses collected during registration. The general rule is that each household receives an invitation unless they have multiple children in different schools; in those instances, parents may receive multiple invitations.
This year the response rate among Grade 4-12 students was 75.5 per cent and 70.9 per cent among teachers, which was about on par with the previous year.
However, the participation rate among parents was only 23.6 per cent, a sizeable decline from last year's participation rate of 39.1 per cent.
Trustee Maureen Schnirer commented that this year’s parent participation rate seemed quite low to her, adding, that parent input is really important.
Trustee Victoria Kane offered one possible explanation, as she noted to Drake that a few parents had expressed concerns to her around confidentiality.
Drake said parents’ e-mail addresses are only shared with senior administration and school administrators, not with other staff.
Prior to the 2018-19 school year, the satisfaction survey was conducted partially by phone. In those years, participation rates were often more than double than they were this year.
Survey results
The first area examined by the survey was whether participants believed their school (or their child’s school) is safe and caring.
Approximately 94.8 per cent of parents, 97.3 per cent of staff and 89.1 per cent of students agreed with this statement. These results were on par or slightly higher than last year.
Another question posed specifically to students was whether their school had at least one adult who knew and cared about them; 92.4 per cent of students agreed with this statement compared to 92.2 per cent in 2022-23.
Next up was the question about satisfaction with behaviour expectations/discipline at schools.
Approximately 85.7 per cent of staff agreed their school is effective in its approach to student discipline, as did 77.6 per cent of students. Both results were on par with the 2022-2023 survey.
However, only 86 per cent of parents indicated they were satisfied with the behaviour expectations at their children’s school, which was a 10 per cent decrease from 2022-23.
Drake told the board that administration went back to principals to ask about this drop in parent satisfaction with behavioural expectations.
"They said that because they can’t discuss the consequences for other students with parents, they may not understand the complexity of the situation,” Drake said.
She also pointed out that, in comparison to the old days when a student acting out was handed a suspension or expulsion, many students are now given support for their mental health concerns or even addiction issues.
“It’s not a cut-and-dry punitive practice anymore; they’re really looking at how do they support the student rather than that punishment,” she said.
The next area examined by the survey was participation in service projects. Appproximately 97.9 percent of parents expressed satisfaction in this area, as did 91.4 percent of staff and 88.7 percent of students.
While these results were pretty close to last year, Drake noted that it was nice to see school participation in service projects return to pre-pandemic levels.
“We’re seeing our students going out into the community a lot more, rebuilding those connections,” she said.
The presence of principals and associate principals within the classroom was the next subject examined by the survey, though only among staff and students.
Among staff, 89.3 per cent indicated that principals and associate principals regularly visit their classrooms, while 74.2 per cent of students agreed that such visits occur regularly.
In 2022-23, only 83.3 per cent of staff and 66.9 per cent of students perceived regular visits by principals and associate principals to classrooms.
Finally, the survey looked at the topic of whether schools are challenging students to do their best.
Among parents, 91.1 per cent agreed with this statement, along with 90.3 per cent of staff. That was a slight dip from last year, when 98 per cent of staff agreed their school was challenging students.
Finally, 95.6 per cent of students believed their teachers challenged them to do their best, which was up from the 2022-23 result of 90 per cent.
Drake indicated these results were likely being influenced by the rollout of new provincial curriculum, which has meant a big learning curve for staff.
“It has been a big shift, particularly in our math curriculum,” she said.
Trustees concluded the presentation by passing a motion to accept the results for information.
