I am writing to share information from the 2017 Parent/Guardian, Faculty and Staff, and Student surveys. I am grateful to the 750 parents, guardians, students, faculty, and staff who responded to the school surveys, sharing their thoughtful reflections and feedback on their Bush experience.
The data collected from these three surveys provides the school leadership with a unique and comprehensive view of how we are delivering on the school’s mission. The Bush School worked closely with the survey and research company YouGov to administer and analyze the surveys, ultimately sharing the results with school leadership—the Board of Trustees and Administrative Group. As a school that is continuing to improve, the surveys play an important role in informing priorities and planning for the future.
The school’s administrative leadership team has addressed some of the concerns in previous surveys by:
-
increasing personnel across the school for learning and support services—counseling and supporting students with diagnosed learning differences;
-
working with a language consultant to conduct an audit of the world languages program, and to work with faculty to create a plan for instruction, pedagogy, and student assessment;
-
sending a group of faculty, staff, students, and parents to Stanford University’s Challenge Success conference to develop strategies and systems for mitigating student stress;
-
creating an Academic Dean position to support the continued professional growth of faculty;
-
auditing and re-organizing the Lower School and Middle School math programs;
-
dedicating resources to building a more competitive and mission-consistent athletics program;
-
augmenting programming, staffing, and hardware to support technology infrastructure and curriculum; and
-
creating a Board-level committee—Campus Master Planning—to address long-term facilities needs.
These efforts and initiatives have made Bush a better school. In this communication, I share some of the highlights and key findings from the 2017 surveys.