Parents Take the Family Engagement Survey
The Family Engagement Survey: Supporting Students with IEPs?
We invite you to fill out a survey for us. We are the Special Education Team of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI). This is a survey for parents of children and youth with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). The survey asks how well your school and IEP team engage you and your family in the IEP and special education process. Since 2009, we have been required to collect this information by federal law. The law is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004). This survey was revised for spring of 2017 to reflect new practices in family engagement and align with our focus on Reading Drives Achievement: Success through Literacy which balances compliance with outcomes for students with IEPs.
We (DPI) will use your answers to give better services to children and youth with IEPs and their families. We need your help to do this. Your privacy is also important. Your name is not connected to the answers you give to these questions. Your answers will not change your child’s education or services. Thank you for taking the time to fill out the survey. The full survey should take about 20 minutes or less to complete.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question 1: If I have more than one child with an IEP, should I complete a survey for each child?
Yes. Each child will have a different username and password. Parents may have different experiences and perspectives with school staff for each of their children.
Question 2: If parents have trouble with completing the survey, who can help?
WSPEI and WI FACETS personnel are familiar with the survey and are prepared to assist parents by
- reading the questions on the survey to parents,
- providing understanding of the questions on the survey to parents, and
- entering parent responses into the survey for them.
School staff are not allowed to enter parent responses into the survey online or write parent answers on paper surveys.
In addition, all completed paper surveys must be mailed with a self-addressed envelope to DPI, and not to the school. Paper surveys should be mailed to:
Requests for Telephone or In-Person Assistance
Some parents may ask for or find it easier to take the survey if provided assistance with entering the survey responses into the survey system. By request or permission from a parent, WSPEI family engagement coordinators, Wisconsin FACETS staff, or other District Family Engagement Liaisons or Support Staff that do not work directly with the student can assist a parent by reading or explaining survey questions and entering the parent survey responses into the survey system for the parent. To protect confidentiality, teachers, administrators, and those working directly with the child should not ask the parent the survey questions or enter information directly from parents into the survey system.
Parents must provide their verbal consent to have another person enter the survey into the system as well as have the consent statement for the survey read to them before answering questions and having them entered into the survey system. The consent statement for the survey appears when the login to the survey is activated, and there is a question at the end of the survey asking if someone assisted the parent in taking the survey.