As indicated by the bar graph below, 47 parents and parishioners completed an NSSE survey of their opinions of the school. The parents generally agreed that the school supports student learning, provides a quality environment for learning, and fosters a positive parent/school relationship. The school is pleased that the relationship between school and parent was the highest rating that was provided on this survey at 4.34 on a 1-5 scale. The subjects of resource management and quality in the instructional program were rated a 3.94 and 3.98 respectively. These ratings are just short of a 4.0 rating of agreement.

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In addition to the quantitative survey that was conducted to obtain parent perspectives, the parents were also asked a few qualitative questions aimed at obtaining general opinions. The following open-ended questions were asked of parents:

          4. What do you like best about your school?

5.What do you like least about your school?

6.What is one suggestion that you would like to offer to improve your school?

The individual responses to these open-ended questions were categorized and the percentages of common responses are depicted in the pie charts below.

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The students at St. Anastasia participated in NSSE surveys this year to assist the school in better understanding the student perceptions of the quality of instructional programs provided at the school, the support provided toward student learning, the environment for learning, and the quality of student/school relationships. Ten, randomly-selected students from each grade from 5^th grade through 8^th grade were surveyed. The race and gender of this sample population accurately represented the school population.

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The graphs of the topic averages below summarize 40, specific questions that were asked of the students. The other graphs represent a compilation of the qualitative responses to following three questions.

What do you like best about your school?

What do you like least about your school?

What is one suggestion you would like to offer to improve your school?

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Quantitative scores on the student surveys averaged about 3.8 on a 1-5 scale. The top five items that students agreed with were:

Cheating is strongly discouraged at our school (score of 4.78).

My teachers challenge me to do my best work (score of 4.21).

Substance abuse is not a problem at our school (score of 4.21).

In our school, students have access to a variety of resources that help them succeed in their learning, such as technology, media centers, and libraries (score of 4.20).

Teachers hold high expectations for student learning (score of 4.18).

The bottom five items that the students were neutral with (3.0) or disagreed with (2.0) were as follows. Students did not strongly disagree with any of the questions that were asked.

There are no problems with bullies at our school (score of 2.87).

Students’ opinions are considered when important school decisions are made (3.0)

The amount of homework I am given helps me succeed in my studies (3.05)

I look forward to going to school each day (3.10)

Students see a relationship between what they study and their everyday lives (3.15).

Twenty-four Juniors and Seniors from our sister High School, John Carroll, completed an NSSE alumni survey, in which they rated their opinions of their alma mater. The recent alumni in this random sample were provided 24 statements aimed at evaluating their past experiences at St. Anastasia. As shown in the graph below, the topic average scores on these areas were between 3.33 and 4.21 on a 1-5 scale. Students felt that they were well equipped in the area of thinking and reasoning skills. According to the opinions represented in this sample St. Anastasia needs to focus more attention on the students’ faith formation.

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