Students work in class at Kaiserslautern High School, Germany, in 2019. The Stakeholder Feedback Survey was launched Jan. 17, 2023, for parents and sponsors of children enrolled in DOD schools from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, the Department of Defense Education Activity announced this week. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Parents and students at Defense Department schools have the opportunity to share their opinions on the quality of education, areas needing improvement and other topics in an online, worldwide survey.
The Stakeholder Feedback Survey was launched Tuesday for parents and sponsors of children enrolled in DOD schools from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, the Department of Defense Education Activity announced this week. It will be available through Feb. 4.
Students in grades 4 to 12, school-level educators and support staff, both full- and part-time but excluding substitutes, will be surveyed in the coming weeks, DODEA officials said.
Feedback from the questionnaire “provides us with valuable information to direct our efforts at continuous improvement,” Thomas Brady, DODEA director, said in a statement.
The anonymous survey is voluntary and takes about 15 minutes to complete.
Topics include academic instruction; school psychological support services; whether parents feel welcomed and their children feel cared for at their school; customer satisfaction; and diversity.
Most of the survey is multiple choice format. Some areas allow for a written response, such as whether one’s child has experienced bias or discrimination at school.
Parents are given the options of ‘A’ or ‘B’ when asked what grade they would give their child’s school.
Separate spaces are included for messages to school staff, district leadership and DODEA leadership.
The results will be available later this year on DODEA’s website, the agency said.
Carolyn Pickering, a parent with two students at DOD schools on Camp Humphreys, South Korea, said it’s important for parents to take the survey, particularly given the size of DODEA and the largely transient community it serves.
“Without feedback … DODEA doesn’t know what grades they are earning and where to improve their organizational performance,” she said.
Pickering advised other parents to not only “think about today” but “about the registration process, how you were welcomed, how the transition went, how your ongoing interactions with the school are, your child (or children’s) teachers, the curriculum, and everything and anything else.”
Respondents will receive a link to complete a survey using their DODEA Student Information System email address. Parents also can access the survey link at: https://www.dodea.edu/datacenter/2023-sfs.cfm.
Those with more than one child in school may fill out more than one survey.
The last survey seeking feedback from DODEA stakeholders was in 2021.
