And the Survey Still Says

by Vince Durnan

My gratitude extends to the 262 USN parents from last year who made time this summer to complete an annual survey. Having asked many of the same questions now for over a decade, we benefit from seeing the results in perspective. Here’s a summary:
The response rate exceeds that for typical polls or voter turnout for local elections. Still, what we heard from the 1/3 or so of last year’s households may correspondingly overstate or understate the broader sentiment. Participation did edge up slightly from the recent past, with proportionately more (basically double the reply rate) from LS than from MS or HS. No doubt the excitement of chiming in dims a little over time, however much each submission may still be appreciated.

Consistency proved to be the story, with majorities indicating that they were “particularly pleased” with both the quality of teaching and the broader educational experience. Such has been the case year after year. Teachers draw the most positive sentiments from USN families. Questions on communication from teachers and from administrative offices draw a mix of “pleased” and “generally satisfied,” perhaps because of the functional nature of that dimension of school life. Similar results came on the prompt about volunteer opportunities being available—again with the plurality of responses coming in the “particularly pleased” column—continuing the pattern for all these questions asked every year.

Asked to identify priorities for USN, respondents continued to urge us to find and keep great faculty, in tandem with focusing on keeping an outstanding academic program. No surprises there. Interestingly, improved facilities came in last place on the available options provided list—something likely the result of improvements of late rather than indifference toward quality in learning spaces for our students. In the middle of the list came initiatives to embrace diversity of backgrounds in attracting students (though diversity was cited frequently as a USN strength) and efforts to limit tuition increases (though most respondents found the tuition increase “about right”).

On that last point, 4 in 5 surveys pegged last year’s tuition increment to be right, with a little fewer than 1 in five seeing it as too high and a noteworthy few (2 in 100) declaring that it should have been higher. The greatest majority response of all came in asking whether our enrollment was the right size—9 in 10 replied that it was, with the balance split between too small and too large.

And when asked to pass along commendations, respondents mentioned dozens of faculty and staff by name, across grades and programs. It’s people that draw the strongest emotional connection and personal appreciation. Similarly, it’s likely that some personnel issue might have generated the greatest frustration when one was mentioned. We are, in the end, a community of relationships and individuals. We can always do a better job of keeping in touch, and the range of perspectives at USN will always result in one person’s hot button topic being another person’s unnecessary distraction, but people always matter.

The final prompt, asking about where our attention should be focused going forward, drew more comments than ever about long range planning—a perfect mandate as we reach this Centennial year. Genuine questions about how to manage increased demand for admissions spaces here, about how to be leaders in our programs, about how to balance financial pressures on a finite budget, about the appropriate place of technology tools in our educational model, and about who we can be as a school community all found their way into responses, forming the basis for conversations that will chart our future. Great reminders for me, great opportunities for us.

Always learning,
Vince
 
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University School of Nashville models the best educational practices. In an environment that represents the cultural and ethnic composition of Metropolitan Nashville, USN fosters each student’s intellectual, artistic, and athletic potential, valuing and inspiring integrity, creative expression, a love of learning, and the pursuit of excellence.