How it works

If your school is interested in using the staff and/or student surveys, complete the survey request form. You can access the survey request form here. Once you have submitted your request, your school's unique survey link will be automatically sent to you via email within one day.

You will receive two links in one email. One will allow you to monitor response rates and alter your survey close date. The other is the link to your school’s survey. If you fail to receive this link, please check junk/clutter/spam folders. You can search for the address: [email protected]. Also consider setting your email program to never treat this address as junk.

For the staff survey, you or another leader in your school will send the survey link to all classified and certificated staff who work directly with students. Staff complete the survey anonymously because this encourages more honest, authentic responses. The typical time to complete the survey is 15-20 minutes, but it is best to allow 30 minutes, allowing for plenty of time to respond to open ended items. Staff tend to need a timeline of 1-2 weeks to complete the survey, with a reminder. We recommend having staff complete the survey during a designated time (e.g., staff meeting).

For the student survey, you will also receive a link to share with students. Students can complete the survey on their devices or in computer labs. We encourage educators to first explain the purpose of the survey to their students and how their information will be used. This helps students take the survey more seriously and yields to more meaningful data. Educators should also monitor students as they complete the surveys, answering their questions and providing clarity as necessary. Students complete the survey anonymously to encourage authentic responses. The typical time for the mini version of the student survey is 5-10 minutes and the time for the full version of the student survey is 15-20 minutes.

Use your survey request link to check your response numbers. If you are not satisfied with the response numbers, you can change your survey close date and send another reminder. A good response rate is 50% or higher, but it is most important to gather the representative voices of staff and students across the diverse communities in the building, including race, gender, grade, and role.

Once your survey closes, then your report will be generated within two days. This report contains basic statistics, a summary of potential facilitators and barriers to quality implementation, and basic recommendations for your school. Sample reports for the staff and student surveys can be accessed here. If you fail to receive your report, please check your junk/spam/clutter folders.

For basic guidance on data analysis and interpretation, please refer to our 10 Step Process. For more detailed information, you can refer to our articles published in peer-reviewed journals. For support in analyzing student and staff written responses, there are several free and affordable software systems you can use. Some examples include Quirkos, Tableau, Raven's Eye, NVivo, and QDA Miner.

If you need additional guidance, please contact the survey developers or one of our preferred consultants.

It is important that school teams share the information with staff and discuss how they intend to use the information. This step alone can help develop staff ownership and buy-in! Of course, teams and leaders will want to review and filter the information first, taking care to remove any statements that could identify individuals from the open-ended responses before dissemination.

Several weeks after receiving your SPBD report, you may receive a brief follow-up survey to assess your satisfaction and allow you to offer your own feedback to help us improve the surveys for future users.