Dear Friends:
 
It is hard to believe that a full ten years have passed since my own last day of school as a head.  Though I recall it was bittersweet to say good-bye to students, there is something special about the end of the year and the approach of summer.  With the end of school also comes a welcome reduction in the volume of communication with parents.  In many respects, teacher-parent and administration-parent exchanges are among the most extensive and demanding within a school community.  Parents care so deeply about their children and the investment they make in their children's future; it is not at all surprising that their advocacy can be strident and occasionally draining to deal with.  Truth be told, I recall how nice it was to have a breather from that intensity.
 
Summer can also afford school leaders the opportunity to step back and to look more objectively at the system that is the Jewish day school.  From this wider angle perspective, we can more easily relate to what vital partners parents are to our enterprise.  Recent studies, such as Alex Pomson and Randall Shnoor's Back to School:  Jewish Day School in the Lives of Adult Jews, point to the intense value of the parent-day school partnership.  Even in the midst of a much deserved summer break and respite from the daily pace, it is worth considering ways to strengthen this important relationship.
 
How well do we actually know our parents and what is important to them?  Despite the vast knowledge that school leaders and teachers have on how their school is functioning, there are always gaps.  Is there a way we can move beyond the carpool chit-chat or rumor mill and discover what parents are really thinking?  Focusing on parents as a highly valued and strategic constituency means that the difficult exchanges have to be put aside, to be replaced by a balanced recognition that how parents perceive their child's day school experience is important data to gather and to review on a regular basis, even annually. 
 
Surveying parents is an essential component of school accreditation, and there are a number of readily-available tools, at varying levels of sophistication and pricing, for schools to use for this purpose.  Up until now, however, there has not been an instrument designed with the unique characteristics and needs of Jewish day schools in mind.  I am pleased to call your attention to the newest member of the PEJE Day School Peer Yardstick Suite of Tools™:  The Jewish Day School Parent Survey, designed in collaboration with Measuring Success.  It can help day school leaders of all denominations to become more knowledgeable, more data-driven, and more reflective about their current practices and about the way their school's performance is perceived.  
 
PEJE has made a considerable investment in developing this product because we believe that the field urgently needs quantitative instruments to inform decision-making.  The eight pilot schools we worked with last year to develop the Parent Survey all agree that honest feedback and insight from parents has tremendous value in addressing widespread concerns, marketing the school to prospective parents, and enabling schools to compare themselves with particular peer groups.  We know that parent perception is one critical indicator of school quality (though not the only one).  
 
PEJE's costs in developing the tool are considerable, and we are committed to delivering this resource to schools in ways that enable active learning and implementation of strategies to address what the survey results reveal.  In 2008-2009 only 40 schools will be able to adopt this powerful tool.  If knowing your parents better matters to your school, and I believe it does, I urge you to apply now to be among this first cohort.
 
I wish each of you a restful and regenerating summer; you deserve it!  And may this interlude provide you with the fresh lens to imagine and plan for a successful new school year, with a commitment to use data more and more to inform your work.  I hope you will find the Jewish Day School Parent Survey as a helpful resource along that path, and that your return to the first day of the next school year finds you refreshed.