2024 Seattle Parent Survey by Hans Kehl

(republished with permission)

What is this

This is a survey created by Hans Kehl, with support from Helen Lundell and Yeechi Chen during the 2024 Well-Resoruced School closure fiasco. It received 1269 responses and, amongst other things, contains information for why families departed the district as taken by open questions.

The work here was not done by SPS By The Numbers. We are just providing an easy URL for reference.

Explainer Mail to PTSAs + School Board

2024 Seattle Parent Survey

Dear Seattle Public Schools PTSAs, School Board, and Community Members:

Back on September 20th, I launched a survey very creatively titled "2024 Seattle Parent Survey".

On September 22nd, I wrote you a note to request PTSA assistance in reaching out to the parents at your respective schools in order to distribute that survey.

The survey was developed in order to get more data regarding awareness and understanding of  the ‘Well Resourced Schools’ Initiative, as well as develop an overall temperature check regarding how parents are feeling about the proposed changes and overall direction and progress that the district is making.

At the time, I stated that:

-Results will be shared with SPS leadership, PTSA, and the community at large.

-The survey is currently available in English and Spanish.

-The survey is targeting an end of response date of October 1st.

Subsequently, I sent a follow-up note announcing additional promotional material and a Chinese version of the survey. I also extended the survey response date to October 6th.

Between when the survey was first launched, and when it closed, there were a couple significant updates to school closure plans, the timeline for engagement on those plans, and the signing of a new contract between Superintendent Jones and the School Board (My sincere wishes for every success for Dr. Jones going forward!)

I've now gone through the responses received. There were 1,269 Total responses, of which 1,070 were Seattle residents with school-aged children. Of those 1,070 qualified respondents, 900 completed the survey. As promised, I've taken those results and written a report that you will find attached below, along with the questionnaire in English.

I also have a set of 543 open-ended answers and suggestions (which are available upon request).

Despite the adjustments in imminent District plans between September 20th and October 1st, due to the broad nature of the questions and feedback, I believe there is still significant value in the collective response from the people who took the 5 minutes (and judging from the open ended comments added, in some cases much more) to complete the survey. I learned a lot, and maybe you'll learn something too.

As I've noted in many of my communications with people requesting the spread of this survey, I'm doing this because I owe a debt to Seattle Public Schools. I think surveys like this, and the learning from them, can help us work together. My father never graduated from high school, and my immigrant mother never achieved a 4 year college degree. The public education that I received in Seattle made a significant difference in my life. I want the school system to continue to make all the difference in many more lives - it is indeed the great equalizer. No organization is behind the survey, though many parents and community members have helped me with translation, analysis, and report writing. 

We are all individuals, but all interconnected.

With Hope and Kind Regards,

Hans Kehl

Father of 2 Seattle Public School Kids

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FAQ:

Who is behind this survey?
There is no organization creating or sponsoring this survey. I’m just a father of two children in Seattle Public Schools, neither of whose schools are proposed for closure, though one of my children may be subject to attendance area change. 
A bit more about me and my motivation here: My father never graduated from high school, and my mother, who was an immigrant, never received a 4-year college degree. I am a product of Seattle Public Schools, and my experiences there made all the difference in the advancement and positive outcomes I’ve achieved in my life.
I owe a debt to the public school system, my teachers, and peers for providing me those experiences. I want to do what I can to ensure that as we dramatically and perhaps permanently restructure our educational delivery system, we do so in a manner as well informed as possible of the perspectives of the users of that system. For me it does not matter if you agree or disagree with my personal views, I just want to know what people are thinking and feeling out there!

Who is the survey for?
Any parent of school aged children who live in Seattle.  One survey per household please.

What’s the difference between this survey and other engagement and feedback tools like a petition, public comment, or email?
  In a petition, people who want to sign up for a collective view and put their name behind a specific group of statements that reflect a set of beliefs or desires. With surveys, they can more precisely respond to what they actually believe (assuming the questions are relevant enough), they do so anonymously, and the aggregate results can serve as representative of the people who completed that survey.

Is the survey a representative sample of parents and their views?
No. I have no way of ensuring the survey results are representative of the district as a whole.
After 1 week I have received over 1000 responses, driven by posts on a couple social media pages, reaching out to personal contacts, and the assistance of multiple individual PTSA.
I’d like to dramatically increase the reach of the survey. Regardless of its size, the survey will only with certainty be representative of the people who complete the survey. Things like access to the internet, translation of the survey into more of the languages spoken around the district will influence who answers.
What we do know is that the more people answer the survey, and the greater the geographic and demographic diversity of the respondents, the more useful it will be.

Why isn’t the survey presented in more languages?
The original intent was to try to get the survey out in Amharic, Chinese, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese as well as English. After using Google Translate, I was not comfortable that the translation was accurate enough. After issuing the survey in English, other community members kindly offered to translate the survey into Spanish and Chinese, which is why you see  separate English, Spanish, and Chinese surveys today. Unfortunately, based upon time constraints driven by the decision timelines for the 'Well Resourced Schools" Initiative, I will be unable to add additional languages beyond these three at this time.

How is confidentiality maintained?
The only identifying data collected is IP address, and that is only to be able to ensure the survey isn't being spammed. Names, emails, phone numbers, or addresses aren’t collected, and respondents only provide which quadrant of the city they live in.

Why don’t you let Seattle Public Schools handle surveys like this?

A survey like this would certainly be more effective if it were part of the engagement plan that SPS had. At a minimum it would be more representative. If nothing else, I see distributing this survey, with whatever flaws it does have, as a way to encourage SPS to gather more information from key stakeholders in a systematic and representative way. Encouragingly, based on recent communication from Superintendent Jones, it seems that increased engagement may be planned, which I think would be wonderful.