Family engagement/involvement is critical to a child's success in school. Every year, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP) asks how schools are doing to a representative number of parents of students receiving special education services.

 

The Parent Satisfaction Surveys of Students with Disabilities 

Parents:
1. Please, click here to see if your child's school is being surveyed this year.
2. If your child's school is being surveyed, click here to take the survey.

Parent Mentors around the state assist schools with the survey distribution and education. Click here to see if your school system has a parent mentor.

Take the Survey Online!

The Georgia Department of Education Division for Special Education and Supports began a five year project to learn about parent’s opinions about their own involvement in their child’s school and whether the school is doing the things it needs to do to help families be involved.

This is why for the last five years, parents of students receiving special education services in Georgia schools receive the yellow (or blue for Spanish speaking families) return envelopes containing a numbered family satisfaction survey.

Which Schools are Being Surveyed this Year?

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY ONLINE.

Want to Know More?

Survey Results in PM Systems

IEP State Numbers

View an Example Survey. Please Note: This is NOT the actual survey, but an example of the questions that will be asked.

Parent Involvement Survey FAQs

   

Why is my school asking me to fill out this survey?
In order for all students to graduate prepared to achieve a lifetime of success, families need to be an important part of the school team. To raise success rates for students with disabilities, the Georgia Department of Education asks parents to answer questions to help assist with helping local schools find ways to partner with families. 
  
Do I have to answer all the questions, even if one doesn’t apply to my child?
No. If a question doesn’t apply, just leave it blank. This will help the researchers gather more accurate information about the services your child receives.  
 
Why do they want to know about my child’s disability?
Data is being collected on geographic area, ethnicity and disability group to ensure the results are valid and reflect the overall demographics of the state.
 
What if I don’t understand a question or a term used in a question?
Ask your child’s teacher or contact your school district parent mentor. Or, click here to find out if your school district has a parent mentor.
 
What if I have more than one child receiving services? Do I fill out more than one survey?
If you have more than one child at a school which is being surveyed or, if you have children in different schools and those schools have all been selected for the survey, you will receive one survey for each child. Because your opinions about the services your children receive at school matter, please fill out all the surveys you receive.
 
Who fills out the survey if parents are divorced and have shared custody?
Most families decide which parent will fill out the survey. Because the surveys go out one to a child, families only get one survey per child.  

What happens to this information once the surveys are counted?
The state keeps track of parent survey results and includes them in the annual Report Card for Special Education. You can link to the report card for your child’s school district through the Georgia Department of Education website. Parent satisfaction is one of the things that a school system is “graded” on by the state. That information comes from, in part, the Parent Satisfaction Surveys.

Click here to access the GaDOE page with this information.

Find your county or school district. Click on that part of the map. Go to special education tab and then look for summary… #8 Parent Involvement refers specifically to the survey information. You can see the percentage of satisfaction rates for the previous school year. This year’s survey results will not be available until Fall, 2011. 

How do I know if my school is being surveyed?
Review the list of 2011 schools selected.
 
What do I do if my child doesn’t receive a survey or if we lost it?
Contact your child’s teacher and he/she will provide a replacement survey.
 
Does my child’s teacher see the survey answers?
No. That is why the postage paid envelopes are included. However, many teachers ask you to return the sealed envelopes to them so that they can get a count on how many surveys are returned. Since parents’ names do not appear on the survey, your answers will be anonymous.

OSEP: What is it?

 

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 26 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) authorizes formula grants to states, and discretionary grants to institutions of higher education and other non-profit organizations to support research, demonstrations, technical assistance and dissemination, technology and personnel development and parent-training and information centers.

Georgia's parent-training information center is Parent to Parent of GA. OSEP is the government department which originated and monitors the survey project. The Georgia Department of Education, Division for Special Education, works with OSEP to administer and track the survey response data.

Visit OSEP on the web.

 

From the Source

Steve Cramer is the Associate Director, Sr. Academic Professional for the Georgia Center for Assessment. The Georgia Center for Assessment is the administrator of the Parent Satisfaction surveys. 

How can Georgia Schools benefit from participating in the OSEP
parent satisfaction surveys?

Some of the ways are direct, some indirect. It is always useful to have parent feedback on what a school is doing for SWDs and their parents.

Since each of the items on the survey is reported separately, it's possible to pat yourself on the back for some of them, and recognize that there's work to be done on others. Also, the data collection process itself seems to result in schools, Parent Mentors and parents communicating more with each other, and that's always a good thing.

What does your office do and why is your department involved in the surveys?

Georgia Center for Assessment has been working with the state testing programs since 1984: CRT, BST, Writing, GKAP-R, GAA, GKIDS, and now CRCT-M, the new CRCT for SWDs.

We have also done a lot of survey research for such groups as SREB, Cobb County, GAE, and many others. Thus, when the Special Education Division was looking for a contractor who had experience with large scale data collection and analysis, they took the advice of the Testing Division and came to us.