As a community-driven organization, it’s our goal to align our strategy with the priorities of parents, teachers, and community members. We always welcome feedback and survey our stakeholders every few years to help determine our strategic direction and program priorities.
With MBUSD budget cuts pending, the results of the survey are especially important to learn what programs and initiatives our community prioritizes. Though our parent response rates were not as high as educators, the survey trends are statistically significant and will assist in making solid, data-backed decisions related to our grants. Click here for further information.
Response to Survey
MBEF sent the survey to all parents, as well as educators at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. For the purpose of this summary, all educator levels have been averaged together to determine their response unless otherwise specified.
Awareness of MBEF and its Purpose
While over 60% of parents and educators are familiar with MBEF and its purpose, there are still almost 40% who are unaware of MBEF and its mission.
MBEF’s Impact on the Community
Both parents and educators are aligned on their perception of MBEF’s impact on our community – over 90% believe that MBEF is an important and integral part of the Manhattan Beach community. They were also in agreement that MBEF is a critical funding source for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District.
MBEF’s Impact on Quality of Education
92% of parents and educators agreed that MBEF is extremely or very important to maintaining the quality of education at MBUSD public schools.
Parent and Educator Program Priorities – Elementary
Both parents and educators in grades K-5 had similar priorities when deciding which programs MBEF funds were most beneficial – Science Specialists, Physical Education Instructors, Music Teachers, Reading Specialists and Library Specialists.
Parent and Educator Most POTENTIAL Positive Impact – Elementary
When given a choice of current and potential new programs should additional funding be available, both parents and educators ranked Class Size Reduction in Grades K-3 and 4-5 among their priorities, in addition to the current grants for Science Specialists, Music Teachers and Physical Education Instructors.
Parent and Educator Program Priorities – Middle School
At MBMS, parents and educators were in complete agreement that Class Size Reduction in English and Math for all grade levels has the largest impact of all the programs MBEF funds at the middle school level.
Parent and Educator Most POTENTIAL Positive Impact – Middle School
When given a choice of current and potential new programs should additional funding be available, parents and educators differed in their priorities, with the exception of expanding Class Size Reduction to the subjects of Science and Social Science.
Parent and Educator Program Priorities – High School
At MCHS, parents and teachers were closer in ranking which MBEF programs were most beneficial. The highest priority for both groups were Class Size Reduction in 9th grade English & Math. College & Career Counselors, School Guidance Counselors and the Librarian were also among the priorities.
Parent and Educator Most POTENTIAL Positive Impact – High School
When given a choice of current and potential new programs should additional funding be available, parents and educators agreed that expanding Class Size Reduction to grades 9-12 in English, Math, Science and Social Studies was their highest priority at Mira Costa. Counseling remained a top priority, followed by support of the Music Program and Library.
Educational Events
MBEF is fortunate to be able to partner with many local organizations and resources to bring timely information and best practices to our community. Through these partnerships, we are able to support our donors without diverting funds from classroom programs. We asked our parents which types of programs they were most interested in MBEF hosting – those focused on the student or parent were by far the majority.
Communication from MBEF
The technology in our world is changing how we communicate with each other. When we asked how to best keep you informed, email is the preferred choice.
At MBEF, the priorities set forth by our parent and educator community play an important part in deciding the focus of our grants. We are thankful to all the parents and educators who participated in the survey and hope sharing the results will encourage others to partake next time around.
There is always room for improvement, and we are hopeful that in the coming years through consistent surveys and focus groups we will continue to be responsive to our community’s needs. We are grateful to be an important part of an engaged, generous, and educated community and look forward to working with you all to ensure that our schools and our students continue to thrive in the years to come!
