#CSW2017

Today marks the start of National Catholic Schools Week--a time when we celebrate the teachers, students and families that make up our school community. Some of the events at CKS include Salesian Spirit Day tomorrow, the Feast of Don Bosco Mass celebrated on Wednesday and our Feeding Children Everywhere school-wide service event on Friday. 

As we celebrate Catholic Schools this week, I also want to begin the follow-up process on the recent parent and student surveys. We used the "Ultimate Question" format to allow respondents to express their own feelings rather than pushing responses towards a predetermined agenda. Although slightly harder to categorize and analyze, we have received some good, thoughtful feedback. 

One obvious place to begin analysis is with the ranking. Of the 135 parents that responded (a response rate of approximately 45%), 76% rated the school a 9 or higher on a scale of 0-10. That number jumps to 90% when you look at those who gave a response of 7 or higher. The follow up question allowed people to dig a little deeper by asking for an explanation of the ranking. Survey Monkey ran a text analysis to determine most commonly used words:

Parents Most Frequently Used Words

Mrs. Lowrey and I also surveyed our students in 5th-8th grade using a similar electronic survey.  Of 219 students, 36% ranked CKS above a 9 (students are a tough crowd), and that number jumps to 84% when ranking a 7 or higher. See below for words students used most: 

Students Most Frequently Used Words

These word clouds are obviously just a snapshot...  a first impression rather than a detailed analysis.  While I am pleased with this first glance and think CSW is the perfect way to celebrate the successes of our school and show our Joy for CKS, I believe it is also a time to reflect on how our school community can continue to grow.

I appreciate that so many of you took time to give us your feedback and look forward to sharing more information about the survey in future communications.

Thank you for your continued support of Catholic Schools and CKS.