Parents Give Feedback in Thriving Schools Program

June 19, 2012 - PRLog -- Baker Strategy Group (BSG) wrapped up a syndicated parent satisfaction survey for over 50 schools in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS).  The Thriving Schools program, developed by BSG, gathers structured feedback from the parents of children at each school.  The simple online feedback system provides school administrators with a method for understanding the needs of the school and taking action to continually improve.

“The Thriving Schools reinforced some things, both positive and negative, that I had been pointing out to the school board that they now recognize because of the hard data,” said Pat Leupold, Interim Principal at Bethlehem Lutheran School in Fairborn, Ohio.

“We are honored to work with LCMS,” says David Baker, BSG Managing Partner.  “The LCMS schools are great schools, with terrific administration and teachers who are passionate about learning.  The survey results clearly show it.”  

Gathering feedback from parents is not a new idea. Many schools have done it for years, and there are a variety of online survey companies that provide simple ways to gather feedback online.  Few surveys, however, are as comprehensive as the Thriving Schools Survey program, which gathers over 75 core measures across 15 component areas of the school experience.

“We are pleased with how the survey has developed,” says Baker.  “We worked hard to create a simple and affordable tool that schools can use to identify areas of priority and take action while also satisfying the NLSA feedback requirements for accreditation.  And principals say they appreciate the ability to benchmark school’s results against the aggregate set of peer schools.  It’s very satisfying to help these administrators build their schools.”

While BSG has partnered with LCMS schools since 2006, BSG recently completed a similar study in the 2011 Thriving Schools Program. This survey of over 300 parents of elementary students in Michigan helped to identify the 7 Key Drivers of Parent Satisfaction as well as provide a letter grade in the four areas listed as “facilities,” “curriculum,” “teachers” and “administration.” Research based on parent feedback could be the future of improving Michigan public as well as private schools.