The results from the fifth annual East Baton Rouge Parish School System’s Community Survey were released in early November, and results were consistent with the previous year’s in that the public’s perception of the district overall is  improving.

The School System began conducting a community-based survey in 2007 to gauge the public’s perception of the district. In order to get a true understanding of public perception, half of those questioned in the research poll have children in public schools while half do not.  The questions on the community survey mimic questions contained in the district’s internal surveys that are answered by staff, parents and students for numerous years.

Overall, the 2011 results were fairly consistent with the results from the 2010 survey, which showed a marked improvement in how the community views the School System over the 2009 results.   SCI Research, a division of Survey Communications Inc. of Baton Rouge, surveyed more than 800 East Baton Rouge Parish residents this year.  The overall margin of error was 3.5 percent.

The poll results ranged from a low of 52 percent who agreed that public school graduates move on to some form of higher education — a 7-point increase over the previous year — to 80 percent who agreed the School System welcomes partnerships between schools and civic groups. In addition, the survey results show 84 percent of those surveyed think the quality of education in EBR has improved or remained the same.

Click here for survey results.