(Spoiler alert: We’re doing a big giveaway! Read to the end for details…)
(Editorial Note: We realize Disney is a controversial topic, especially in light of recent news. However, the ideas below are still true.)
When I lived in southern California, I had the pleasure of visiting Disneyland 30+ times. I now live in Kansas — far from any Magic Kingdoms – but I’ll never forget what it’s like to be in a Disney park. If you’ve never been to one yourself, read any business book on customer experience and you’ll likely hear about the Disney experience.
So, what is it that makes Disney parks so… magical? Attention to detail.
Perhaps it sounds boring, but once you’ve seen and felt the impact of Disney’s obsession with details, you’ll look at all other theme parks differently. They handle trash better. They design spaces better. They minimize wait times… well, perhaps they could still improve there…
The point is: When we began to overhaul our Parent Satisfaction & Referral Survey last year, we decided to do it with a Disney-like focus on the details. Why? Because when it comes to the health and future of your school, details matter.
Our survey has been continually refined over the past 15 years, but the improvements we just completed are not tweaks. They are major upgrades based on priceless feedback and a commitment to serving Christian schools better.
What can you expect from a Christian School Survey?
1. Clarity on the Satisfaction of ALL constituents
You’ll notice the name has changed from “Parent Satisfaction & Referral Survey” to simply “Christian School Survey.” This is to communicate that our survey can be used to gain valuable feedback from more than just parents. Curious what alumni, students, or teachers think? We’ve got you covered. Yes, we could do a separate survey for each of these audiences, but we’ve found that being able to compare relevant program elements among these groups is far more helpful than viewing them in silos. (For instance, are your teachers as engaging as they think they are?)
2. Actionable Insights
Information without action is just a distraction. By knowing what matters and how you are performing in those areas, you can make better decisions leading to greater satisfaction. To make these insights clearer, we’ve added a unique chart that graphs the intersection of how important and how effective respondents view a given program aspect. Should you add more extracurriculars if respondents say you don’t do this well? It depends! Do those respondents care about extracurriculars in the first place?
3. Precisely Normed Results
We’ve invested heavily in carefully norming our survey for 70+ variables in 15 demographic categories — based on over 140,000 survey responses. What does this mean for you? It means we’ve done millions of calculations to provide an apples-to-apples comparison you can’t get with any other survey. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the midwest serving mostly wealthy and highly religious families or on the west coast serving a mix of ethnicities and various education levels. When we show you how your school compares to other Christian schools, you can know that we’ve controlled for all the variables that matter.
4. Robust Internal Comparisons
It’s one thing to compare one school to another, but Christian school leaders should be able to compare (both with minute detail and at-a-glance graphs) how one grade compares to another. Or how families with long commutes feel compared to those nearby. Or parents that are highly educated vs those who only finished high school. And so on…
5. Graphical Reports & Debrief Time
With so much data (we’ve only scratched the surface here), you may be wondering how difficult it is to interpret the results. This is where our graphical reports (mentioned previously) and personal debrief time come in. We’ve made the most essential insights into helpful charts, and any questions are covered in a Zoom call between me and school leaders.
6. And so much more…
It sounds like an infomercial, but truly “that’s not all.” There is much more to be gained from the Christian School Survey than can be concisely communicated here. If you haven’t taken a survey with us or it has been a while, you can learn more here or simply call our office.
A Big Giveaway
We already know the impact this survey will have on Christian schools, but just like Disney, you really have to experience this for yourself.
To encourage you to try the Christian School Survey this year, we will be randomly drawing the name of one parent from all 2022 respondents for a family vacation (up to a $3,500 value). We’ve done this before, and trust me, it will really boost your response rate!
Want to discuss your school’s needs and see if our survey is right for you?
