Parent Survey

I send a parent survey along with my welcome letter to each household before school starts. I ask that parents return it with their child on opening day. (I use to send it home on first day, but I find this way the parents return it faster and seem to put more thought into it.)
*Describe your child's strength. (Do not limit to academic ability, please include physical and social strengths too.)
*What does your child enjoy doing?
*What do you want your child to achieve in fourth grade?
*Describe any concerns you would like addressed this school year?
*Please list any additional information about your child, which would be helful for me to know.

I re-read the parent surveys just before Fall Parent Teacher conferences as well.

P.S. It would have been easier to add an attachment, but I'm not there yet. I guess that's ok because I haven't even figured out how to add an avatar yet. I've tried but unsuccessfully. :(

I have my parents complete one on their child. It is very interesting, and can tell you right away who is involved. I learned a lot from these last year!

Here are the questions:

1. What are your child's major interests?
2. What are your child's strongest academic subjects?
3. What are you child's weakest academic subjects?
4. Which reading skill(s) would you like to see strengthened?
5. Which math skill(s) would you like to see strengthened?
6. Which writing skill(s) would you like to see strengthened?
7. Which study skill(s) would you like to see strengthened?
8. What should be your child's three main academic goals for the first nine weeks?
9. When your child receives a gift that needs to be assembled, does he read the directions first, or does he dive right in and try to figure it out as he goes?
10. Is you child more apt to complete a three-step direction if you simply give him oral instructions, or do you need to write the instructions for your child?
11. Would your child rather watch television or play outside?
12. Does your child prefer listening to music or reading a book?
13. If your child could choose the subjects he studied in school, what would he choose?
14. Which would your child prefer to do: write a story, read a story, or act out a story?
15. Would your child rather make a craft after hearing the directions, reading the directions, or watching someone make a sample?
16. Do you read to your child? If so, how often?
17. If you do read to your child, is it done on a school night, during the week, or both?

I teach 5th grade and use this survey to learn about my students' history with independent reading and Accelerated Reader.

Here's what I use every year.

I used this for the first time last year. I loved all the helpful info I got from the parents!

Here is my parent sheet. I save them and refer to them throughout the year to be sure I am connecting with student interests. Feel free to use!

Here's mine! Enjoy! :s)

Attached is a copy of our parent survey. I erased the name of our school that was at the top of the first two pages. I also put in the words school or our school wherever it was named. I hope it helps you.:p

I would choose an area that you really want to know about. Last year I wanted parent feedback about communication because it was my first year in third grade. I created my own and sent it out. Truthfully, I was all ready to be slammed and was very pleasantly surprised when I got mostly positive comments. The communication tool that I was worried about was the favoite among my parents.

I attached the survey for you.

I send a parent survey out about a week before school lets out--i send it with an envelope and encourage them to be anonymous if they wish. (i can usually tell who wrote it by their reference to their children, and they usually sign it anyway), but i think allowing them to be anonymous helps with getting honest answers. i also give a treat to students who return theirs. make sure to not ask questions that you don't really want the answers to. it takes guts to ask parents about your performance. if you don't plan on changing what you do, you might also not ask for their opinions on a particular topic. i usually take what they say with a grain of salt--you can tell who is blowing off steam and whose constructive criticism you seriously need to take a look at.

my survey has been copied below (we departmentalize in the 6th grade at my school).

May 2002

Dear Parents,

I would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to answer some questions about your child's year in my classroom. This will help me evaluate some of my programs and plans for next year. You may remain anonymous or leave your name if you wish.

Thank you,

1. What is your overall feeling about your child's year?

2. How did I do communicating with you?

3. What did I do that you liked?

4. What did I do that you didn't like?

5. What do you wish I had done this year?

6. How did you feel about our class "switching" this year?

Please comment on any of these items that you feel are worthy of comment:

Homework:

Progress reports/class newsletters:

Parent meeting (Back to School Night) at start of school:

Open House in the spring:

Other:

It's anonymous and I usually get about 75% back. I really appreciate the feedback.