First of all, my thanks go to all of you who took the time to fill out the questionnaire. In total, 487, or about 75% of our students’ families responded to the survey, an increase of 100 responses over 2001-02. Such a high percentage is reinforcing, and your evaluations of our performance and the comments that accompanied them will be very helpful to us.

General Satisfaction—4.4 out of 5
The questionnaire asked you to rank most questions on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Any score of 4 and above should be interpreted as a strong positive statement. In 2001-02 Shipley families rated the school at 4.3, which at the time matched the high of the twenty-three schools that had been surveyed. This year, you rated your general satisfaction with the School even higher, at 4.4 on the 5-point scale. This is only marginally lower than the current high of 4.5 among the fifty-two schools that have surveyed their parents. Only five respondents scored their general satisfaction below 3 on the scale, but that is five too many. Our goal is to do the best we can for every student and family in the school. We still have work to do.

Fulfilling the Mission—Scores Rise
Regarding how we fulfill our mission, our ratings again improved over 2001-02, ranging this year from 4.2 to 4.5 on the thirteen areas, and our rating for compassionate participation in the world (which was 4.1 in 2001-02) jumped to 4.4. Kevin suggested that at virtually every other school he has surveyed, two or three or more of the mission elements have slipped well below the 4.0 threshold. For us, to have such high marks for living up to our mission is particularly reinforcing because it is the very basis of the institution. Everything we do revolves around it.

School Life—Fourteen “Best Scores”
We are extraordinarily pleased to have fourteen best scores (out of 42 questions) in the school-life section of the parent and guardian survey. Based upon what our parents and guardians, students, and faculty have told us, we can attribute our overall success to the program we offer, our emphasis on individualized attention, the sense of belonging that all of the constituencies report, and, of course, the quality of the relationships between and among students and teachers. We put a great deal of emphasis in these areas and are encouraged to know that it is recognized by students and colleagues, as well as by parents and guardians. We are committed to making these relationships even better.

Diversity, Service, and Community Life—Reinforced
It is also reassuring to know that all of our constituencies understand the importance of our being a more diverse, open, and compassionate community, committed to making a difference in the Shipley community and the world at large. As you may recall, our 2004 Strategic Plan reinforces this initiative, and we are committed to carrying it out over time. Our Director of Community Life, Sandi Richards, and our entire Diversity Team are helping us to continue our efforts in this area. Service learning, in particular, is an ever more important part of our curriculum.

Communications—Highly Rated
Communication is important, and we take pride in the fact that you gave us such strong grades in 2001-02 and even better ones this year—a 4.0 score or above on twenty-one of twenty-four communications questions, one of the best proportions of any school. Nevertheless, as always, we are committed to improving and are currently undertaking a communications audit to make our printed and electronic materials more useful, accessible, and consistent. During the last few years we have begun to do more and more of our communication via the internet. Families seem to be responding well to this and view our website and internet communication very positively. In addition, we will be introducing a new means of communication to replace our traditional “snow chain” in the case of weather and other emergencies. The system will allow us to deliver a message simultaneously to up to six phone numbers or emails for each student. This will, we believe, ease the burden on parents and guardians and make people’s lives much easier. We look forward to trying it!

Class Size, Safety, and Behavior—A Commitment
Shipley families are particularly pleased by our class size (to which we remain committed), our care for the individual student, the safety of students (which matched the best score anywhere), behavior of students, and the sense of community for parents, particularly those who are actively involved in volunteer efforts. We are, however, concerned that personal property brought to school is more vulnerable than we would like it to be. We will do what we can to eliminate theft and make Shipley a safe, secure, and welcoming community for every student and parent.

Homework—A Question of Balance
Of course, families have concerns as well. Among other things, you are worried about the quantity of homework assignments and the balance of workload. These are important issues. Our faculty and Division Heads, Margaret van Steenwyk, Harry Worrall, and Maggie Granados, are reviewing our practices in these areas.

Leadership and Social Events—Opportunities for Growth
Regarding leadership opportunities and social events for students, we have heard you loud and clear and will look to create more of them. Life is hectic and complex and we need to help our students balance their lives while they are involved in a range of activities. Providing opportunities for growth is what we are about.

Athletics—New League, Turf Fields
Your improved ratings for our interscholastic athletic program suggest that you have noticed the fine work being done by our Athletics Director, Dan Serfass, and his staff, and are supportive of our move to the Friends Schools League, which has dramatically improved the sense of spirit and team loyalty among our students and parents and guardians. Your relatively low rating of our athletic facilities reaffirms the Board’s decision to put artificial surfaces on three of our fields, one at the Lower Campus (which has already been done) and two at the farm (which will be done this summer). We will look for other opportunities to improve our facilities as time moves on.

Food Service—Improving
Both you and the students raised concerns about the quality of our food service, and we are pleased that Sage, which provides our food, has responded well to our requests for a healthier and better menu. Our Middle and Upper School students universally agree that the food itself and the presentation of it have improved markedly over the last few months, and it will continue to get better. In addition, next year all Lower School food will be prepared on-site. And, in an effort to further address potential health concerns, we are leaning towards taking soda out of the dining room. In addition, some of our Upper School students will be working with Sage to develop the best overall program and advise on any issues that might surface. If you have any comments regarding this, please let me know.

Girls and Boys—True Coeducation
Four years ago, the parents of girls thought that their experiences might be better than the experiences of those who have boys. This no longer seems to be the case. In fact, among the areas where all parents rated us highest was in the coeducational aspect of Shipley life for their children. This is borne out by the students, who, regardless of gender, felt good about their experience and were equally likely to rate it as excellent. Of course, we will continue to ask the questions, do the research, and make the changes necessary to provide the best possible education for all of our students, regardless of gender.

This is only a sampling of the results of the surveys. A summary of results is also posted online at www.shipleyschool.org/parentsurvey. If you are interested in hearing more, do not hesitate to email me or give me a call. I am happy to share any information that we have.

These results are incredibly reinforcing. In sum, you have supported our commitment to educating the whole child, and I applaud you for your involvement in the process. Nevertheless, our work is only just beginning. The whole child needs the participation of the whole family in his or her education; thus, I invite you to be even more involved in the School. Since we know that students whose parents participate in their schools perform better, it would be wonderful for every parent and guardian to find a way to become more actively engaged. From our perspective, the more we can do to reinforce the partnership that is central to your children’s experiences, the better their experiences will be.

In the meantime, we take this survey very seriously. While we appreciate the good ratings we have received, the opportunity to improve beckons in every area of the school. We are listening hard to what you have told us, and the entire administrative team is carefully reviewing your survey answers with a determination to serve you and your children even better. Thank you again for your interest and feedback, and I hope you have a great summer.

Warmest regards,

Steven S. Piltch
Head of School