Success Stories

Success Story #1

A large suburban school district in the Southwest implemented Scantron's survey solutions to conduct their annual Customer Satisfaction Survey (for parents, students and staff), as well as their Staff Climate Survey. The district had been designing their own surveys, mailing them out to recipients and then manually tallying reports in a spreadsheet. The process was time-consuming and supply costs were continually increasing. So, the district came to Scantron seeking a more cost efficient solution.

The school district now uses SurveyTracker Plus Email/Web® survey software, along with an iNSIGHT™ OMR and imaging scanner and two OpScan scanners. The ability to conduct the surveys online, which is now the predominant method, was a key factor in choosing this solution. It enabled them to expedite their entire survey process, and has resulted in much higher response rates. They anticipate an increasing ROI as their annual survey costs have been greatly reduced. Reports, which used to take 3-4 months to compile, now take only a month. Also, surveys are easily created in both English and Spanish, a district requirement since much of the population is bilingual. The school district has found such success with Scantron's Stakeholder Survey solution that they will be creating a new student-only survey, to be distributed in the spring.

Success Story #2

A very large metropolitan school district in the Midwest determined that Scantron's custom print and packaging solutions were the right fit for them. The district needed to coordinate a major annual survey with many changing parts. The surveys needed to be printed in multiple languages, and special packaging considerations had to be taken into account. Also, each target audience required a different survey.

This school district implemented Scantron's custom print services and packaging solutions. Over 700,000 surveys were printed, packaged and delivered by Scantron. These surveys were printed, sorted and packaged based on the school district's five different target audiences: high school students, elementary school students, parents, teachers and principals. Surveys were also made available in six different languages. The customized surveys enabled the district to more accurately measure and track key metrics such as academic rigor, student support, school safety and parent satisfaction.

Success Story #3

In the Northeast, an extensively large metropolitan school district employs Scantron's Survey Services to handle the design, printing, distribution, returns, scanning and reporting of all paper surveys. Surveys go out to three population groups: students (approximately 530,000), teachers/staff (approximately 81,000) and parents/guardians (approximately 800,000). Each set of surveys is structured differently. In addition, eight different language versions of the student and parent surveys are created.

Scantron works with the school district to coordinate the print and fulfillment needs based on a strict timetable. A variety of delivery methods are used, depending on what works best for a school or population group. All deliveries are tracked. Scantron also arranges and tracks all returned surveys. As these documents are returned, they are prepared, scanned and run through a post-scanning quality control process. Scantron is able to process volumes of surveys on a daily basis, and then generate the necessary data files. Status reports are provided to the school district each day as well. Once all of the surveys are processed, Scantron provides the district with detailed reports. The school district recognizes that using Scantron's Survey Services has a number of benefits, the two greatest being the speed of the return processing and the thoroughness of the quality control processes.

Success Story #4

A large urban school district in the Mid-Atlantic region utilizes Scantron's Survey Services to conduct their annual District-wide Stakeholder Surveys (teachers, principals, students, and parents) in an effort to collect school level information beyond achievement data, that can be used to inform planning and decision making. The district has contracted with Scantron for three consecutive years to design, print, and deploy their paper-based surveys.

Parent surveys are printed in 13 languages and mailed directly to residences along with a Business Reply Envelope addressed to the Scantron Data Processing Center, allowing parents to respond anonymously and confidentially. Student and Teacher surveys are kitted with special instructions, return envelopes, and labels. They are shipped and tracked to over 300 school buildings for distribution. Using the envelopes and labels provided by Scantron, the students, teachers, and principals can respond anonymously and confidentially. Utilizing the school list provided by the district, Scantron can track returns from individual schools, and notify the district of non-responding locations. Follow-up by the district ensures that all buildings administer and return their surveys. Upon completion of the data collection process, Scantron provides the district with important information to help evaluate the data, guide expectations and shape on-going strategies.

Success Story #5

A small school district in the Northeast had been looking for a solution to survey their Professional Development program. The district found that solution in Class Climate - Scantron's software for automating course and faculty evaluations. The district uses Class Climate, along with a Scantron scanner, to gather and evaluate feedback on both the content of their programs and the instructors who present the sessions to their staff.

The school district, with a student population of over 10,000, has 950 teachers and 450 teacher assistants. The majority of the teacher evaluations are conducted at the beginning of the school year, but many other surveys are conducted throughout the year. In addition to faculty evaluations, the district has recently begun using Class Climate to survey students' parents. At this time, the school district uses paper surveys because they feel it generates a higher response rate. However, they are also considering supplementing the paper surveys with electronic surveys. To do this within their current Class Climate solution, they would not need to purchase any new software or hardware. Class Climate already gives the district this option, as surveys can be conducted via paper, online, or both. Scantron's course and faculty evaluation software not only meets the district's needs today, but offers ready-made solutions for what they may need in the future.