Parent Survey 


Federal Requirements

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) says parents and legal guardians are equal partners with school staff in making decisions about their child’s education. Parent Rights and Responsibilities available under IDEA are provided to parents to make sure parents are aware of their extensive rights. IDEA also outlines what schools must do to ensure that parents can meaningfully participate in each step of the special education process. Parents, and the student (whenever appropriate), must be meaningfully involved in: 

  • Determining what data needs to be collected during the evaluation.
  • Reviewing evaluation data to assist in determining if a student meets eligibility criteria.
  • Developing, reviewing, and revising the Individual Education Plan (IEP) annually.
  • Determining educational placement decisions (i.e., Least Restrictive Environment); and
  • Planning for transition services starting before the student turns 16 or enters high school.

 

The evidence is clear and consistent that when the Local Education Agency (LEA) and families work together, student learning and outcomes improve. This results in students having positive attitudes toward school, improved social skills and behavior, and higher achievement. 


Given the importance of parent and guardian involvement in student outcomes, collecting, analyzing, and reporting high-quality data related to parent involvement is important. Providing parent involvement and satisfaction data will inform the State and local LEAs of parent perception on areas of strength and need. This information can be used by LEAs to determine appropriate actions to improve their programs and services offered to students with disabilities and their families. 


State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR)

Indicator 8 on the State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report (SPP/APR) requires Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) to collect and report the percentage of parents with students receiving special education services who report that schools facilitate parent involvement as a means of improving results for children with disabilities. The data collected is reported as a percentage of parental involvement in the APR for each LEA. 


Georgia’s Parent Survey Data Process

The GaDOE utilizes an anonymous survey that is available to all parents of students with disabilities annually. The survey was developed with input from stakeholders to determine the percentage of parents with a child receiving special education services who report that the school facilitates parent involvement to improve services and results for students with disabilities. The survey consists of ten questions seeking the level of agreement families have regarding how their child’s school and teacher facilitate parental involvement. 

 

What and when is the data collected?

The ten-question electronic survey is used to calculate a satisfaction score for each LEA. The parent survey is available to all parents from mid-January to mid-May each year in English and Spanish. Before answering the questions, parents are asked to provide basic demographic information. 


The purpose of obtaining demographic information is to allow the disaggregation of the data by subgroups, allowing LEAs to better understand parent perceptions on areas of strength and need in all groups. Each parent can complete an electronic or paper survey for their children receiving special education services. 

 

The survey is available each year through a link provided by GaDOE. Most parents complete the survey electronically. Some LEAs choose to create and distribute paper copies of the survey. The parents can submit the completed survey to the Exceptional Student Department in their LEA. The LEA can designate the parent mentor or other person in their department to enter the responses using the link provided by GaDOE.  


What is Calculated?

GaDOE calculates the responses and reports the survey results to each LEA by August in the SE Application Dashboard and for Indicator 8 of the SPP/APR. The LEA reports include survey responses analyzed by race/ethnicity, the grade and primary exceptionality of the student. 


To determine representativeness and to prevent non-response bias, Georgia examines race/ethnicity subgroups to determine whether there was a + or – 5 percentage points discrepancy in the proportion of responders compared to the target group. The target group proportions were calculated using Federal Child Count data. Additionally, Georgia selected student grade, after gaining stakeholder input, as our additional measure.  


In the application, LEAs have access to previous years' data to help inform program planning and improve services for students.