Conducting a climate and culture survey with your school and/or school district can be an incredibly powerful tool for change. With our years of experience working with schools, we have seen schools and districts make these common mistakes that turn what should be a positive process into an administrative bungle.
5 Errors to Avoid when Conducting Climate and Culture or Student Perception Surveys:
Poor Communication Pre-Survey:
Survey processes can only be successful with a strategic communication plan that includes informing parents and getting the appropriate permission.
Fix:
- Know your WHY – why are you conducting the survey, and HOW will this positively impact your school and school community? Communicate that.
- At school, get stakeholders on board ~ principals, teachers, and staff. Give them the tools to socialize the survey with students and parents.
- Send an email to families.
- Send information via the school newsletter, on the school website, and on flyers to be sent home.
- Get appropriate permission from families with an opt-out option.
Poor Communication Post-Survey:
Students and staff took the survey, now what? A communication plan post-survey includes sharing survey results with your community – the good and the not-so-good. If you don’t have clear and transparent communication, even if you do act on the survey results, the process loses credibility.
Fix:
- Determine (pre-survey) the post-survey communication plan. The who, what, how, and where.
- Not all survey results need to be shared; however, just sharing the rosy ones isn’t fair. Be honest.
- Share the results in three different ways, three separate times. Don’t assume that people will get the message. Ensure the results you share are succinct and to the point and include actions that will be implemented. Put them in school and school district emails. Post them on the website. Share them at meetings and school district meetings.
No Action Post-Survey:
Do not ask if you are not going to act. Period. Remember, actions speak louder than surveys! Surveys can’t be treated as a compliance issue; instead, they are tools that can provide your school and school district with data to implement meaningful changes.
Fix:
- Understand your WHY. Before starting the whole process, understand why you’re doing it and WHAT you’ll do with the results.
- Set aside resources for actions. This should be budgeted into your survey process.
- Work with a professional School Climate and Culture and Student Perception Survey provider that provides your school and district with actionable data.
Another Day, Another Survey:
We are living in the “age of the survey”, and everyone is asked to review everything, from our morning muffin to how our jeans fit. Most of us feel like we’re in a survey vortex and are feeling survey fatigue.
Survey fatigue negatively impacts results.
Fix:
- Communicate the purpose of the survey with all stakeholders and how this process will benefit them.
- Keep the survey under 10 minutes (ideally no longer than 7 minutes). The longer the survey, the more likely participants are to stop paying attention to the questions.
- Communicate results.
- Act on results.
- Communicate actions and how these actions are DIRECTLY TIED to the survey process.
- Repeat.
These steps give your survey process legitimacy.
Data Overload and Out-of-the-Blue Actions:
When stakeholders, and even your survey team, are overloaded with data, graphs, percentiles, and information, it is overwhelming. Likewise, quantitative data without qualitative data lacks context and can feel incomplete.
Fix:
- Work with a third-party survey provider that offers your survey team synthesized and summarized insights. Skip the burdensome analysis process when working with experts.
- Ensure there are follow-up questions for the survey to dig deeper into respondents’ answers.
Climate and culture surveys are more than a compliance exercise—they’re an opportunity to listen, learn, and lead with intention. By avoiding these common mistakes, schools can turn student perception data into meaningful insights that drive real improvement. At CustomInsight for Schools, we partner with schools to design thoughtful, research-based surveys and provide the support needed to translate feedback into action.
Ready to run a survey that truly reflects your school community and informs next steps? Schedule a free demo and start building a stronger, more responsive school environment today.
Feedback, when strategic, can improve your school climate and culture. Listen to Ernest Jenavs’ talk about building cultures of feedback.
“Feedback from others is at the core of how we improve.”
– Ernest Jenavs
