Head of School Letter: Parent/School Partnership - Listening to and Acting on Feedback

At Shorecrest we know that the strongest educational experiences are built on open dialogue and genuine partnership with our families. Listening to your feedback—and the voices of our students—is essential to our partnership; it's how we continuously grow and improve our school community.

We have established comprehensive and varied ways for gathering input throughout the year. Our conversations begin immediately through parent and student orientations and include individual invitations to new families to meet with administrators as the school year begins. There are also structured pre-school opportunities for dialogue with teachers at the Experiential and Lower School Listening Conferences in August. Early in the school year each family in the eighth and ninth grades is invited for individual parent-division head meetings with Head of Middle School Kris Grant or Head of Upper School Erich Schneider. These meetings are in addition to our formal Parent-Teacher Conferences for every student from Alpha through twelfth grade, which will take place next week, on Wednesday, November 12. 

We also prioritize student input about their experiences. Middle and Upper School students fill out surveys about their academic classes at the end of the semester or school year. At the end of each athletic season, all teams survey their student-athletes about their overall experience. The College Counseling Office conducts an exit survey for our twelfth graders, asking for feedback on their college application journey and their perspective on their overall Shorecrest experience. The responses are carefully reviewed by multiple administrators and used to implement changes. 

From the Head of School’s office, I send out an exit survey and offer exit interviews for all families who choose to leave Shorecrest before graduation, providing them a chance to speak with me personally. The goal of these conversations is to learn from each family’s perspective, discover what went well for the family at Shorecrest, and also gather feedback about where the School has opportunity for growth. 

Since the fall of 2020, we have sent out Satisfaction Surveys twice a year. We value this feedback and want to thank every family who has taken the time to share insights through these surveys. Your input has directly led to significant improvements across all divisions. The feedback we receive is not just filed away—it drives tangible change. 

Here are some key changes we have implemented based on what we heard from our community:

• Expanding College Counseling: Based on feedback, the College Counseling Office has added more resources, started programming for students earlier in the year and hired a dedicated counselor focusing on students in the 9th and 10th grades. The office has also added programming on writing compelling college essays, navigating athletic recruitment and successfully applying for financial aid and scholarships. We have extended invitations for earlier individual family meetings and expanded presentations to include parents of all school divisions so that families with younger students can learn about our college counseling process earlier. The office instituted summer and fall Meet and Greets with counselors for all parents, and also introduced “The Shorecrest Advantage: Exploring the Upper School," a virtual presentation that provided information about the Upper School curriculum and college counseling process. Most importantly, we have sought to educate our community about the dramatically shifting landscape of college admissions and demonstrate with data how a Shorecrest education enhances a student’s application to highly selective institutions.  
• Elevating the Experiential School Lunch Experience: We heard about food in the surveys. This past summer, we physically redesigned the ES kitchen to allow lunch to be prepared and served on the spot, as opposed to previously bringing food that was made in the main kitchen and delivered via to-go containers. Alpha teachers now carry lunch from the ES kitchen to the classroom. JK students line up to choose their lunch items individually. Using age-appropriate trays and containers, we are able to create another educational experience for our JK students, encouraging independence and autonomy. 
• Enhancing Student Wellness: Previously we had one school counselor who split her time between the Lower and Middle Schools. Parent feedback from the surveys and our own observations raised the priority of attending to the social and emotional learning of our students. We reallocated resources to provide full-time counselors in both school divisions. These counselors push into the classroom to teach lessons and conduct group work, while now also having ample time to provide robust care, validation and support for individual students and families.
• Addressing Middle School Dynamics: Middle School culture and common interpersonal conflicts was a frequent topic brought up in parent surveys. In response, our full-time Middle School counselor has developed proactive whole grade programs, conducts many small group sessions and has individual meetings with all students. We have also brought in experts and developed a specific interactive program for all Middle Schoolers that focuses on developing healthy friendships, navigating complex group dynamics and learning age-appropriate skills for conflict resolution.  
• Redesigning the Upper School Dress Code: In addition to our own observations, we heard loud and clear from the surveys that the parent community felt the need to address certain aspects of our Upper School dress code. To that end, we redefined and clarified the dress code, creating standards of dress that would set an appropriate tone for our students to model for their younger peers, as well as for the many visitors we invite to campus, including college admissions representatives, prospective families, and community leaders.

Your insight is powerful, and we need it again! The Fall Satisfaction Survey will be launched in mid-November. Please take the time to fill it out. I personally read every single comment and share your feedback as appropriate with other administrators, as we seek to enhance communication and ensure that our strategic decisions truly reflect the needs of our community. Your participation helps us move from listening to continuous improvement.

All the best,

Nancy