The Tucson Jewish Community Center Early Childhood Education

Courtney Burns | ccburns@email.arizona.edu

Lawrence Jacquet | ljacquet@email.arizona.edu

Hao Mu | haomu@email.arizona.edu

Hannah Watts | hannahwatts@email.arizona.edu

Jeremeiah Whiteside | jwhiteside@email.arizona.edu

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Introduction 3

Special Needs Services 3

Client Survey 3

Early Childhood Services 3

Parent Focus 3

Evaluation Focus 4

Jewish Life and Learning, Arts and Culture, and Philanthropy 4

Focus Groups 4

Written and Mobile Surveys 4

Camp, J Care, and Enrichment Classes 4

Spectrum of Community Engagement 4

Enrichment Class Retention Program 5

Social Cues for Feedback 5

Sports, Recreation and Aquatics 5

Data-Driven Innovation Guide 5

Membership and Fitness 5

Pricing, Millennial-Oriented Fitness, and Social Outreach 6

Conclusion 6

Situation 7

Challenge and Opportunity 7

Purpose 7

Project Scope 7

Early Childhood Education Evaluation Tool 7

Parental Alignment 7

Background 8

Primary Data 8

Initial Client Meeting 8

Tour 8

Manic Monday 8

ECE Director Outreach 9

Secondary Data and Analysis 9

Parent Expectations 9

Client Alignment 9

Surveys 10

Balanced Scorecard & SERVQUAL 11

Focus Groups and Informal Conversations 14

Key Findings/Analysis 14

Recommendations 15

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Improving Manic Monday 15

Post-Parent Tour Debriefing 16

Suggestion Box 18

Yearly Evaluation Surveys 18

Implementation 19

Conclusion 20

References 21

Appendix A: Parent Expectations Form 23

Appendix B: SERVQual Survey 24

Appendix C: Obtaining and Understanding the SERVQual score 27

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Executive Summary Introduction

The purpose of this report is to communicate the research, analysis, and recommendations for the

Tucson Jewish Community Center (The J), to establish a system for evaluating the success of its

programs and to promote a culture of innovation throughout the organization. Each team

balanced the concepts of innovation and evaluation to encourage staff to break from the status

quo, while also planning for long-term program sustainability through evaluation. Program

success is dependent on three metrics: financial success, number of people served, and program

quality. The following teams focused on program evaluation: Special Needs Services; Early

Childhood Services; and Jewish Life and Learning/ Arts and Culture/ Philanthropy. The J desires

a framework to enable its employees to create and innovate. The teams focused on developing a

culture of innovation include: Camp/ J Care/ Enrichment Classes; Sports and Recreation/

Aquatics; and Membership/ Fitness. A summary of each team’s report can be found below.

Special Needs Services

During the initial meeting with the SNS Program’s stakeholders, we discovered that the program

is financially efficient, highly praised, and competitive, but needs a way to receive in-depth,

quantifiable data from the parents and program members. Our primary research consisted of

interviews with key stakeholders to learn about current evaluation methods and interactions with

members. We also conducted secondary research through databases to learn about evaluation

methods that are ideal for non-profit organizations. We concluded that client surveys are the best

option.

Client Survey

Once we decided to focus our efforts on client surveys, we began to fabricate a plan to create and

execute an effective survey. We discovered that client surveys need to actively avoid bias,

sample a high percentage of the target market, and contain questions that are relevant, ethical,

and unambiguous. Our plan recommends applying a client survey by identifying the target

audience, defining what needs to be asked, creating and administering the questionnaire, and

finally receiving and applying the feedback. Potential questions for this survey are included in

the appendix of our report.

Early Childhood Services

The recommendations we developed will allow The J to improve the Early Childhood Education

(ECE) program, parent alignment, and parent satisfaction through various evaluation metrics.

The J currently evaluates the community center as a whole, but not all programs are evaluated on

an individual basis. This creates a challenge when determining the strength of alignment between

The J and parents of the ECE programs. To resolve this challenge, we discovered two areas of

focus: parents and evaluation.

Parent Focus

We studied how to increase relationship strength between parents and staff. Our primary research

included meeting with a panel from The J, a mock tour, and an observation of Manic Monday,

giving us a deeper understanding of The J’s current alignment with parents. Our secondary

research consisted of exploring best practices for parent alignment. Based on our research and

the current parent alignment, we recommend improving Manic Monday and increasing both

parent involvement and feedback opportunities.

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Evaluation Focus

In order to evaluate the alignment between parent expectations and the ECE services, we

researched other programs’ evaluation methods. Due to the limited research on how other ECE

programs evaluate parental satisfaction, we reached out to department heads of JCC’s around the

country. Additionally, we analyzed SERVQual, a tool used by businesses and higher institutions.

This tool captures qualitative information, such as benefits, satisfaction, and preferences to

assess overall service quality. We found that surveys are an effective means to gather

information, and businesses can achieve high response rates through incentives, anonymity, and

pre-notification. Based on these findings, we recommend administering SERVQual-inspired

surveys to parents, and using a variety of methods for increased response rates.

Jewish Life and Learning, Arts and Culture, and Philanthropy

In our report, we provide a research-based recommendation on evaluation methods to measure

the success of the Arts and Culture, Jewish Life, and Philanthropy departments within the

Tucson Jewish Community Center. Supported by extensive primary and secondary research on

best practices, our teams’ solution to the lack of formal evaluation methods consists of using a

combination of focus groups, written surveys and mobile surveys. The intended result of this

solution is to add value to The J’s programs.

Focus Groups

The first pillar of our recommendation is focus groups. We recommend consistent and topic-

driven focus groups, which will provide insights on beneficial program developments for the

Philanthropy and Jewish Life departments, in particular. To discover philanthropic and cultural

goals of J members and staff, we recommend an open dialogue for a focus group.

Written and Mobile Surveys

Secondly, we recommend is written surveys for all 3 departments. A short, simple survey should

be distributed during an Arts and Culture event, and collected at the end for the most effective

and easily adaptable results. For Philanthropy, mid- and end-project review surveys are

opportunities for individuals to share positives or negatives, and to suggest any improvements.

Jewish Life and Learning-focused surveys should be distributed with Likert scales to allow

members to measure how to enhance classes and enrichment programs. Finally, mobile surveys

offer countless options for The J. Successful incentive-based methods can be incorporated into

The J’s CRM, Daxko. A concise, relevant, and adaptable mobile survey can assess feedback

from any member who downloads the application.

Camp, J Care, and Enrichment Classes

We were tasked with providing recommendations for innovation and evaluation of the children’s

enrichment classes, day camps, and child care at The J. Through implementing our enrichment

class retention program, The J will offer an innovative certificate program that attracts members

to enroll in more classes and increases member retention. Our additional recommendations will

help The J understand feedback from both employees and members.

Spectrum of Community Engagement

To address employee innovation, The J should implement a Spectrum of Community

Engagement Initiative. This spectrum has delivered results to numerous other establishments

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through its focus on employee involvement and empowerment. The five-step program involves

taking employee comments into consideration during monthly meetings, and implementing new

initiatives based off the employees’ input.

Enrichment Class Retention Program

In order to differentiate The J’s enrichment classes from competitors and retain class attendance,

The J should create a children’s enrichment class retention program. This program entails

grouping certain enrichment classes together based on similar themes. Once a student has

completed 3-4 related classes, they will receive a certificate. This program will encourage

children to enroll in multiple, related classes. This would not only increase class attendance, but

also the child’s sense of achievement. This program will require the full involvement of The J

staff to support and encourage members to take full advantage of this opportunity for

achievement.

Social Cues for Feedback

We recommend the implementation a video recording system for data collection. Applications in

academic settings have revealed that feedback in non-text form encourages engagement and

delivers higher quality data in juxtaposition to Likert-type inquiries. Narrative data provides the

opportunity to capitalize upon member “traditions” and convert these moments into retention.

The process of capitalization mirrors marketing best practices.

Sports, Recreation and Aquatics

As a team, our goal was to establish a way to aid The J in creating innovative programming in

the Sports, Recreation, and Aquatics sector. This is especially important in our assigned sector

because the competitive landscape is constantly changing. After our initial stakeholder meeting,

we conducted extensive research on the following 4 types of data: descriptive, behavioral,

attitudinal, and interactive. Additionally, this includes research on demographics, “me time”,

trends, benchmarking data, and best practices for innovation and evaluation. All of this research

can be found in the final deliverable.

Data-Driven Innovation Guide

After conducting this research, we developed a “how to” guide for to help The J’s employees

effectively innovate. The “how to” guide entails a six-step process: find a need, research further,

develop solutions, present solutions, implement solutions, and evaluate. Our intention is for

employees to complete these six steps in four months. In order to accomplish this, we created a

four-month timeline for creation, implementation, and evaluation. Included with the guide and

timeline is 1) a glossary of terms, and 2) an example case study for employees to reference if

they need assistance or further explanations while working through a phase.

Membership and Fitness

Our report is intended to provide The J with recommendations for innovating the fitness and

membership programs while reinforcing a sense of community. Our extensive research and

survey of 49 gym members have shown that focusing on member engagement will help The J

retain members and evening fitness class volume. To increase retention and perceived value, we

recommend the implementation of a pricing plan, millennial-oriented fitness class innovation,

and social outreach events.

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Pricing, Millennial-Oriented Fitness, and Social Outreach

The implementation of our recommendation will encourage staff to move away from the status

quo while building upon The J’s core values. Additionally, our solutions emphasize the

importance of community, and are crucial to the immediate and long-term retention of

millennials and their families. The short-term focus is creating additional membership value for

millennials by emphasizing millennial-oriented fitness class innovation, thus increasing evening

attendance as well. The long-term focus is on gradually improving communal harmony through

events and restructured pricing to better tailor to individual needs.

Conclusion

Each team balanced the two primary goals of promoting program evaluation and creating a

community of innovation at The J. While summaries are provided here, each team’s in-depth

research, analysis, and recommendations can be found in their respective reports. Based on in-

depth research and meetings with departmental stakeholders, each team developed

recommendations that will help the J break from the status quo while simultaneously evaluating

their programs for long-term sustainability and growth.

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Situation This report is designed to aid you in understanding how we will help The J evaluate its Early

Childhood Education (ECE) programs and improve parent alignment. As stated below, The J

lacks a way to evaluate the effectiveness of its ECE services and faces the need to better align its

programs with parent expectations. We address these issues through several recommendations

that will provide The J with an evaluation tool, opportunities for feedback, and increased parental

alignment in order to effectively assist The ECE department in sustainably evaluating its service

quality and improving parent alignment. Below, we discuss our project scope, research, key

findings, recommendations, and implementation methods.

Challenge and Opportunity

The J currently lacks an evaluation system that measures the parent satisfaction of its ECE

program and the program’s impact on parent-specified objectives. This presents us with the

opportunity to create an evaluation tool for The J to assess parental perceptions of the program

quality and their overall satisfaction. The J also faces the challenge of articulating its program’s

offerings and defining its value to parents. This challenge has created the opportunity for us to

recommend strategies for better communication and alignment of parental values with ECE

services.

Purpose

The purpose of our project is to create an effective evaluation system and various methods that

allow The J to better align with parent desires. Based on research found, we developed an

evaluation tool that will accurately measure parent satisfaction and improve communication of

parent expectations. We have also created several strategies that will help The J garner more

parental feedback and better promote Manic Monday.

Project Scope

The J asked our team to develop a sustainable evaluation

process to assess its ECE program quality, as well as improve

parental alignment. We focus on measuring parent satisfaction,

while targeting strategies to create opportunities for parents

and staff to communicate common goals. We pinpoint the

problem by creating different channels for The J to garner

feedback, primarily through a “pre- and post-” evaluation on

parent expectations and by increasing parent involvement in

its ECE programs.

Early Childhood Education Evaluation Tool

● Assess parent expectations of ECE programs through a

“pre-” evaluation tool

● Create evaluation to assess service performance of

these expectations using a “post-” evaluation tool

● Utilize the SERVQual-based survey to evaluate the parent satisfaction and expectations

● Incentivize parents to provide feedback

Parental Alignment

● Assess current parental expectations regarding The J’s core values

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● Increase parent involvement

● Gather information from informal conversations to later convert into quantifiable data

● Improve communications between The J and parents

Background Primary Data

Initial Client Meeting

As a group, we had three opportunities to collect data regarding parent alignment: client meeting,

ECE department tour, and Manic Monday. At the initial client meeting, parents and staff

concurred that there was no formal process to provide feedback for the ECE programs. The J

would like to address parent concerns by facilitating informal meetings to provide feedback.

Todd Rockoff emphasized that he wants to ensure the ECE department articulates to parents

what they are getting from the ECE services, highlighting that The J promotes child growth,

creativity, and development through play-based curriculum.

The parents at the meeting highlighted the following areas as their top expectations of an early

childhood education program:

● Affordable cost

● Safe environment

● Nurturing teachers

● Disciplinary actions

● Integration with other programs within The J

Tour

By taking a tour of the ECE department, we discovered how The J aligns with parents early in

the process. Parent tours are currently the best method of collecting information about The J’s

ECE program offerings. Before the tour begins, Ms. Riddles gives parents a registration packet

that explains The J’s curriculum, inclusion policies, and pricing structure. She then gives parents

the opportunity to discuss any questions or concerns they may have before beginning the tour,

but noted that parents often do not know what questions to ask during the tour. Parents explore

the classrooms and facilities most appropriate for their current needs. Ms. Riddle concludes the

tour by directing parents toward member services to continue the registration process. Once we

completed the tour, we noticed it lacked a time for the parents to express their expectations and

desired outcomes of an early childhood education program.

Manic Monday

Once parents have enrolled their children in The J’s ECE programs, they have the opportunity to

provide feedback once a month during Manic Monday. The first Monday of each month has a

two-hour time slot dedicated to individualized feedback and questions regarding upcoming

programs from parents. Feedback from Manic Monday has given the ECE department ideas for

new programs. Manic Monday was designed as an informal focus group, however due to the

timing, parents seem to use it for quick one-on-one feedback with the department head. If The J

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better advertises Manic Monday and creates an environment that encourages parent interaction,

the program has the opportunity to grow stronger as an informal focus group.

ECE Director Outreach

In order to find new ways to better align with parents and evaluate The J’s Early Childhood

Education programs, we decided to reach out to JCC’s ECE department directors across the

country. By doing this, we hoped to receive valuable insight on how other JCC’s align with

parents and evaluate their programs. We reached out to three different department heads: Lisa

Monette, Director of the Eric & Sheila Samson Family Early Childhood Learning Center of the

Orange County JCC, Tara Sutker Ohayon, Director of Early Childhood Education at the Aaron

Family Jewish Community Center of Dallas, and Mark Horowitz, Vice President and Director,

Sheva Center for Innovation in Early Childhood Jewish Education and Engagement. Due to

scheduling conflicts, we were unable to conduct an informational phone interview with the

directors.

Secondary Data and Analysis

Parent Expectations

After conducting secondary research on parent

expectations, we have identified their top priorities

when choosing an early childhood education

program. These include the following: nutrition,

health and wellness, child care cost, location, and

hours of operations. Many parents consider child to child interaction more important than child

to teacher ratio. Parents are also very concerned with facility cleanliness and ease of access in

case of emergencies. According to the Journal of Early Education and Development, parents are

becoming more cautious about the foods to which they expose their children, as they want to

ensure their children establish healthy eating habits. Parents expect child care programs to help

establish these habits. Understanding parent concerns and how they affect overall parent

satisfaction is important in developing an effective evaluation tool that is based around parent

expectations.

Client Alignment

In 2010, the Ohio Department of Education created a list of the six best practices to ensure

parental alignment within Early Childhood Education programs. These steps include:

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● Create a welcoming environment

● Provide parents with at-home resources to further

the child’s learning experience

● Strengthen families’ knowledge so they can assist

with children’s study skills.

● Create multiple suggestion boxes specific to ECE

programs

● Establish contact portals between parents, teachers

and staff

● Create roles for parents within the ECE programs to

increase involvement

With increased involvement, we can reasonably expect that parents will be able to better evaluate

the programs they oversee. This will allow parents to provide active and immediate feedback to

teachers and staff regarding the areas of the ECE programs in which they volunteer. This

research gave us a starting point for brainstorming ways The J can best align the ECE program

with their clients’ needs.

Surveys

According to Qualtrics, the leading research and experience software, there are ten effective tips

for writing a survey. The most relevant tips to The J’s challenges include the following:

● Ask questions using a funnel approach (broad questions asked first and specific questions

asked last)

● Avoid unclear questions

● Do not require questions (only ask respondents to answer the questions with which they

are comfortable)

● Provide options for answers to be written in if multiple choice answers don’t give every

possible option

● Avoid double-barreled questions (two questions in one)

● Use multiple choice questions sparingly.

Survey Monkey, another top website for survey and questionnaire creation, explains that there

are three key points to follow when creating an efficient and effective survey. These points

include making sure the language used in the survey aligns with the respondents’ language. They

also stress the importance of both question simplicity and the absence of biased or leading

questions. Writing questions that sway towards a specific answer skews the results of the survey,

creating incorrect results. We used this research when creating the survey questions found in

Appendix B.

We also researched the best practices for increasing survey response rates. According to an

article in the Journal of Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, the pre-notification of surveys,

the assurance of anonymity, and the use of single follow-ups all significantly increase response

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rates. With regards to incentives, prepaid monetary incentives and the promise of a charitable

donation also increase response rates. The study conducted by this journal concluded that a $25

payment resulted in significantly improved response rates for adequate, quality, and complete

questionnaires.

An Oracle Best Practice Guide

discusses the top seven best

practices for survey execution,

and we identified the five most

relevant to our project scope.

First, timing the survey well is

essential to increase the number

of respondents. They suggest

avoiding Monday and Fridays by

sending midweek e-mail invitations in the afternoon. Second, the audience will more likely

respond if surveys are personalized to the target audience and include a Thank You page. Next, it

is essential for businesses to take action in order to maintain response rates throughout the years.

Participants want to know that their feedback ignited action and that their voices were heard.

This goes hand-in-hand with the next best practice: showing customers that the company is

listening by improving their next experience based on the given feedback. Lastly, businesses

must limit survey frequency to avoid annoying clients, only surveying enough to obtain

necessary information. Oracle recommends basing survey frequency on the organization's

interactions with customers. We believe a combination of each of these techniques will be

beneficial in implementing a survey-based method of evaluation with high response rates and

quality data.

Balanced Scorecard & SERVQUAL

In order to evaluate the alignment between parent expectations and the ECE services, we

researched other programs’ evaluation methods. However, there is limited research on how other

ECE programs evaluate parental satisfaction. By broadening our research scope, we found a

study in the Journal of Interactive Marketing that uses the balanced scorecard to capture the

qualitative benefits, such as interactions, benefits, satisfaction, and preferences, of a customer

relations management (CRM) system.

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is a performance measurement framework that overcomes the

drawbacks of financially-oriented performance assessments. It uses both financial and non-

financial performance measures to give managers a more balanced view of program

performance. However, instead of using the traditional four perspectives of the BSC, such as

financial and business process, the study used more customer-centric qualities to better measure

how well services meet customers’ wants and needs.

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These perspectives include customer knowledge, customer value, customer interaction, and

customer satisfaction. The figure on the next page describes how a company can use these

customer-centric perspectives to increase both value and profit, while also improving customer

loyalty and acquisition.

In order to turn these intangible perspectives

into quantifiable numbers, the study used a

research instrument called SERVQual.

According to a SERVQual framework guide,

this tool allows a business to capture how

customer expectations and perceptions align

with service quality. According to Qualtrics,

SERVQual is the most widely used measure of

service quality and its scores are highly

reliable. When applied over time, SERVQual

helps companies understand areas in need of

improvement by evaluating customer

perceptions of specific services.

SERVQual uses the following five dimensions

to measure service quality: reliability,

assurance, tangibles, empathy, and

responsiveness. Qualtrics states that these

dimensions are consistently ranked by customers to be a top priority for quality services. The

figure below defines each dimension.

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The SERVQual model uses a questionnaire composed of 22 questions, each with two parts

(expectations and perceptions), divided amongst the five dimensions. The customer answer the

questions using a 7-point Likert scale. This enables the survey to close the gap between:

● Customers’ expectations versus management perceptions (Gap 1),

● The discrepancy between customers’ expectations and their perceptions of the service

delivered (Gap 5),

● The discrepancy between customer expectations and employee perceptions (Gap 6).

The figure below delineates each of the six gaps that SERVQual closes.

SERVQual Case Study

A study in the Journal of Business and Management discusses the use of SERVQual to evaluate

undergraduate and postgraduate management classes at the University of Cincinnati and HEC

Paris. Each university administered the complete SERVQual questionnaire to students during the

last two weeks of their quarter. They used an online survey tool and promised anonymity.

The universities analyzed the SERVQual and found several opportunities for improvement in

their classes. At HEC Paris, student expectations exceeded university performance on every

dimension. However, at the University of Cincinnati, classroom service exceeded student

expectations on the following three dimensions: responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The

study concluded with this remark: “The use of the SERVQual gap analysis in the classroom

would promote both effective and efficient service quality management.”

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This research led our team to conclude that The J could benefit from SERVQual because it

closes the gap between customer expectations and management perceptions, as well as between

customer expectations and their perceptions of the service delivered. This will help The J better

align between department offerings and parent expectations.

Focus Groups and Informal Conversations

Initially, we were tasked with finding an informal means to collect

formal data, such as using a focus groups. Focus groups, according

to the Center for Assessment, Planning, and Accountability, are

most effective with 7-12 members. Discussion is encouraged

among participants to provide a deeper understanding of the topic at

hand. Focus groups do not have to follow a specific format, but the

acquired information is most effective if the moderator understands

the group dynamics and prevents the group from straying too far

from topics. According an article on focus groups in the British

Journal of Nursing, the moderator must create an open and

comfortable environment. Typically, focus groups are held for one or two hours in a comfortable

room with no disturbances. If held in an informal setting, a business should choose a neutral

location without distractions. The groups can also be held over informal sessions such as a meal.

According to Weinberger’s focus group article for allbusiness.com, focus groups held at the

business location can produce a bias, therefore rendering it useless. He also suggests using focus

groups to produce favorable experiences and encourage future interactions. Using this

information, focus groups are a positive way to gather feedback regarding parental expectations,

and one with which The J can benefit.

Key Findings/Analysis Based on our research, we identified several key factors that guided our recommendation

development. Below we discuss the main takeaways within our two research categories.

Parent Alignment Focused

Parent expectations change with trends; however, the research above indicates parents’ top

priorities include childcare cost, location, and both physical and environmental safety. Through

our research, we found that increased parental involvement within the ECE program allows for

the most efficient and effective feedback from parents. Also, the tour does not include a time for

parents to express their desired-outcomes and expectations of an ECE program, and Manic

Monday’s current one-on-one interactions do not promote optimal parent collaboration,

minimizing the feedback available.

Evaluation Focused

The SERVQual methodology assess service quality using the five dimensions consistently

ranked by customers as a top priority for high-quality services, including tangibles, reliability,

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empathy, assurance, and responsiveness. This allows businesses and institutions to capture

qualitative information and place it on a rating scale to quantify customer satisfaction.

SERVQual closes the gap between customer expectations and their perceptions of the service

provided, allowing businesses to understand services in need of improvement. Also, we found

that surveys are an effective means to gather information, and businesses can achieve high

response rates through employing several strategies and providing incentives, anonymity, and

pre-notifications. These key findings aided us in developing possible methods for improving

parental alignment and creating an evaluation of parental satisfaction.

Recommendations Our recommendations are divided into two parts: solutions to improve parental alignment and

solutions to evaluate parental alignment and satisfaction. Our approach to improving parental

alignment includes improving Manic Monday, implementing a post-tour debriefing, and adding a

suggestion box. In addition to improving parental alignment, we created recommendations to

evaluate how successful The J is in maintaining relations with parents and creating client

satisfaction.

Improving Manic Monday

We recommend The J increase communication regarding feedback opportunities. Since Manic

Monday is a newer program, many parents are unaware of the potential opportunity to

communicate concerns and ideas to the ECE department staff. Therefore, we recommend The J

increase promotion of Manic Monday by sending out a reminder the day before Manic Monday.

There are two possible forms to implement this change. The J should send a reminder email to

parents with children in the ECE program on the

Sunday morning before Manic Monday. We

suggest this time because, according to Statista,

51% of people check their emails between 8am

and noon. Therefore, it will reach the greatest

number of parents if sent in the morning the day

before Manic Monday. A second option for

improving the awareness of Manic Monday is

sending a Facebook message the day before.

This will remind parents about the program

because they will see the post when using Facebook over the weekend.

We also recommend holding Manic Monday in the same location. Although researchers, such as

Doody, Slevin, and Taggart, suggest holding focus groups in a conference room, changing the

location of Manic Monday will not increase participation. A conference room is more conducive

to the collaborative environment; however, due to the current setup of Manic Monday, sitting in

a conference room would be inconvenient for parents on their way to work. Therefore, changing

the location of Manic Monday may cause a negative yield.

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Benefits

Informing parents about Manic Monday ahead of time will allow them to leave earlier in the

morning and allot time for providing feedback versus rushing to work. During this time, parents

will provide constructive criticism and well-thought out ideas. Implementing these

recommendations will allow The J to collect useful information and ideas from a greater number

of parents. Also, by keeping the location of Manic Monday, The J will increase attendance.

Post-Parent Tour Debriefing

After noticing there is no time for parents to express their expectations of Early Childhood

Education during the Parent Tour, we recommend that The J conduct a “debriefing” at the

conclusion of the tour. This debriefing will include an informal conversation between the ECE

director and the parents, as well as a formal questionnaire.

The informal conversation will allow parents to discuss the following items:

● Their feedback of the services visited

● Their desires and expectations of the program

We recommend that staff emphasize The J’s belief in creating a partnership between parents and

teachers to help the children grow. We also recommend asking questions, such as:

● Do you have any questions about the play-based learning curriculum?

● Can we clarify any services we provide to the children, such as the enrichment or fitness

classes?

We suggest administering the questionnaire during the conversation to save time and keep the

tour flowing. The questionnaire will ask a series of questions catered to understanding exactly

what the parents want from the program and will act as a “pre” evaluation tool. The

questionnaire questions can be found in Appendix A. Later, we discuss our “post” survey

recommendation that accompanies this “pre” evaluation, which will evaluate the alignment

between these pre-specified parent expectations and the service delivered.

In order to implement this suggestion, we suggest ending the ECE tour by returning to Ms.

Riddle’s office to conduct the debriefing and administer the paperwork as opposed to concluding

the tour at membership services. This will present the parents with a table and space for

answering the survey questions in a comfortable setting centered around the debriefing

conversation.

Benefits

The debriefing conversation will allow the parents to clarify The J’s ECE offerings and ensure

parents understand the value of the program, to communicate with the director what the parents

want their children to achieve during the program, and to promote that The J’s ECE staff wants

to establish common goals with the parents.

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This formalized questionnaire document will allow the department to have a written record of the

parents’ desires and can use it to better gauge what services to provide for their children. The J

will also be able to take this information and gain new insights on parent expectations. This will

allow them to innovate within their programs to better service parents while maintaining their

identity as a play-based organization with core Jewish values.

Increase Parent Involvement

According to our research, creating opportunities for parental involvement within the Early

Childhood Education programs is one of the best ways to ensure parental alignment. We suggest

creating volunteer jobs for The J’s parents in their ECE department during school hours. The

following are volunteer examples that will greatly increase parental involvement at The J:

● Playground duty during play time

● Participating/teaching in fitness classes

● Joining meal times

● “Muffins with Moms” and/or “Donuts with Dads” before school breakfast

In order to implement this recommendation, The J should first advertise this new program to

motivate parents that are able to volunteer. Based on a Best Practices for Parent Involvement

Guide created by Michigan Department of Education, we suggest utilizing the following

approaches for successful implementation:

1. Create a welcoming environment with staff greetings and entrance signs to ensure parents

feel valued, and educate staff on

how to create such an environment.

2. Give parents who are unable to

volunteer on campus alternative

ways to stay actively involved at

home or in their place of

employment.

3. Create a process for contacting all

parents throughout the year.

4. Create a flexible volunteering

schedule, with short volunteering

durations, to address parents’ busy

schedules.

5. Reinforce appreciation of parents and emphasize that their contributions are meaningful.

Benefits

Creating these opportunities for daily involvement gives parents an inside look at staffs’ teaching

techniques, children learning styles and social skills, and the play-based learning environment.

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From this experience, parents can give feedback on these aspects of the ECE programs from

firsthand knowledge.

Suggestion Box

In case parents are unable to actively volunteer, we recommend creating an anonymous

suggestion or comment box for parents. Allowing parents the opportunity to anonymously share

their questions, concerns, and recommendations for the ECE program is an effective way to

receive immediate parent feedback. The ECE staff should place the suggestion box near the ECE

entrance or in the common area near the classrooms. This location is convenient for parents to

communicate quick feedback while dropping off and picking up their children. These places are

also optimal for the most foot traffic.

Benefits

Implementing a suggestion box would allow parents to communicate with The J consistently

without needing to schedule appointments or requiring parents to change their normal routine.

Suggestion cards can be taken and filled out anonymously, allowing for honest feedback and

comments without fear of judgement. This method combined with more formal methods

mentioned in the recommendation section will allow The J to gain information for service

improvements.

Yearly Evaluation Surveys

To evaluate The J’s ECE programs based on the alignment between parent expectations and the

services provided, we recommend administering a yearly survey. The survey is based on the

SERVQual model and will assess parents’ satisfaction of the program. We suggest using

SERVQual as the basis for this survey because, as stated above, SERVQual allows companies to

quantify the qualitative nature of customer satisfaction. The survey will act as the “post-”

evaluation part of our project plan because it assesses parental satisfaction upon the conclusion

of the ECE program each year and will help The J evaluate how well they delivered their service

to the children.

We believe it is best to administer the survey only once a year to avoid over surveying and

maintain high response rates by minimizing customer annoyance. We also recommend

administering the survey via email, or on paper when the parents pick up their children,

whichever way is more convenient for the parents. The survey questions are outlined in

Appendix B. Appendix C explains how to obtain and understand the overall SERVQual score

once receiving survey results.

Increasing response rates

In order to obtain high parent response rates with these surveys, we suggest The J’s ECE

department employ the following four strategies:

● Notify parents prior to survey administration, and then send it within 24 hours

● Assure anonymity

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● Provide a single reminder to non-respondents

● Incentivize with either the promise of a small charitable donation or a small value gift

card with each survey response

Based on our research, The J should also send the survey invitations midweek in the afternoon

and include a Thank You page with the survey to ensure high response rates. The J, most

importantly, must take action based on the survey results. This will show its clients that their

feedback is useful, appreciated, and important, motivating parents to fill out future surveys.

Benefits and Post-Survey Recommendations

As seen in Appendix B, the SERVQual survey allows parents to rate the extent to which they

agree with an expectation statement, such as “Staff should be kind and courteous to my child.”

Then parents rate the extent to which they agree with the perception statement, such as “Staff

was kind and courteous to my child,” to rate how well The J delivered their on their

preconceived expectation of its ECE program. This will allow The J to close the gap between

parent expectations and parent perceptions of the service delivered.

Also, The J can use the final SERVQual score to evaluate the overall parent satisfaction. The

SERVQual scores will also be beneficial in creating goals for increasing the SERVQual score

each year and assessing achievement of these goals. The J can chart the scores, recognize

growth, and analyze trends. The survey will also aid in understanding which areas of the ECE

programs need improvement. As further described in Appendix C, if the Gap Score is negative,

improvement is necessary because service performance is inferior to client expectations. Once

determining the areas that need to be improved, we recommend The J develop a plan of action

based on survey results and communicate to parents how their feedback is being acted on.

Implementation We suggest the following timeline for The J to begin implementing our previously-mentioned

recommendations. Although the table on the next page shows tentative start dates, feel free to

adjust as necessary. The changes should be implemented with the beginning of the new school

year. The SERVQual survey is given at the end of each school session.

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Recommendation Date

Begin conducting debriefings May 2017

Set up suggestion boxes July 2017

Add new parent involvement opportunities August 2017

Announce Manic Monday September 2017

Administer surveys based on the SERVQual

model

December 2017

Costs

Staff time and materials are the two most pertinent costs to consider before adopting our

recommendations. Employees will require training on post-tour debriefing methods and parental

involvement opportunities. Managers will spend time compiling and reading the suggestions

from the suggestion box, as well as sending out surveys, encouraging parental involvement, and

organizing Manic Monday. Implementing the evaluation system, explaining the new process to

parents, and instructing staff on how to utilize the evaluation system effectively will also

consume time. Monetary costs will be relatively low and will revolve around material costs. The

J will have to create or buy a suggestion box, print surveys for parents wanting to take the survey

in person, and create small advertising materials to promote parental volunteering.

Conclusion This final deliverable discussed our project scope, research, key findings, recommendations, and

implementation methods. After conducting extensive research, we created five recommendations

that will help The J evaluate its Early Childhood Education programs and improve parent

alignment. These recommendations include improving Manic Monday, adding a post-parent tour

debriefing, increasing parent involvement, creating a suggestion box, and administering yearly

evaluation surveys. These recommendations will allow The J to effectively evaluate parent

satisfaction with its ECE programs, create opportunities for feedback, and align with parent

expectations.

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Appendix A: Parent Expectations Form

During the tour, were there any moments that stood out to you?

How do you prefer to receive information about (i.e. weekly objectives, classroom/child

achievements, and school events)? Circle most preferred methods.

Email Text Facebook Instagram Shutterfly

As a parent, what are your expectations of early childhood educations programs? (I.e. safety,

discipline, structure, etc.)

What do you want your child’s classes to prioritize for your child? (I.e. ABC’s, motor skills like

cutting and drawing, colors and shapes, socializing.)

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Appendix B: SERVQual Survey

EXPECTATIONS & PERCEPTIONS This survey deals with your opinions of early childhood

education programs and facilities. Please show the extent to which you think early childhood

education programs and facilities should possess the following features. What we are interested

in here is a number that best shows your expectations about institutions offering early childhood

education services.

Strongly Strongly

Disagree Agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Expectations

Tangibles

E1. Good educational facilities allow for open child to child interaction. ___

E2. Good educational facilities should have modern equipment. ___

E3. Staff members at education institutions should dress professionally. ___

E4. The best educational facilities provide learning material for children to take home. ___

Reliability

E5. When a parent expresses concern to a staff member, excellent educational services

will show a sincere interest in addressing it. ___

E6. Excellent education programs offer consistent faculty, allowing children to feel

stable and secure around familiar staff faces. ___

E7. Being open on time and every time the facility is scheduled to be open represents a

good early childhood education program. ___

E8. Excellent early childhood education programs insure children are being monitored

and kept safe. ___

Responsiveness

E9. Excellent early childhood education programs will insist on informing parents of

any abnormalities in child behavior or appearance immediately. ___

E10. Staff at excellent early childhood education facilities will always be

willing to help parents. ___

E11. Staff at excellent early childhood education facilities will respond to parent

inquiries in a timely manner. ___

E12. Staff at excellent early childhood facilities will deliver services and programs on

time and provide an accurate timeline for parents. ___

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Assurance (Child Encouragement)

E13. The behavior of staff should instill confidence in children. ___

E14. Children should feel safe in the environment provided by the facility. ___

E15. Staff should have the knowledge to address children questions. ___

E16. Staff should be consistently courteous and kind to children. ___

Empathy

E17. The Early Childhood Education program gives children and parents individual

attention. ___

E18. Operating hours convenient to all parents. ___

E19. The staff that gives the children individual attention. ___

E20. Excellent early childhood education programs will understand each individual

child’s needs. ___

Perceptions

Tangibles

E1. Educational facilities allow for open child to child interaction. ___

E2. Educational facilities have modern equipment. ___

E3. Staff members dress professionally. ___

E4. Learning material for children to take home is affective. ___

Reliability

E5. When a parent expresses concern to a staff member, a sincere interest is shown

in addressing the concern. ___

E6. Program offers a consistent faculty, allowing children to feel stable and secure

around familiar staff faces. ___

E7. The facility is always open on time and every time it is scheduled to be open. ___

E8. The Early Childhood Education program insures children are being monitored

and kept safe. ___

Responsiveness

E9. The early childhood education program informs parents of any abnormalities in

child behavior or appearance immediately. ___

E10. Staff is always willing to help parents. ___

E11. Staff responds to parent inquiries in a timely manner. ___

E12. Staff at excellent early childhood facilities will deliver services and programs on

time and provide an accurate timeline for parents. ___

Assurance (Child Encouragement)

E13. The behavior of staff instils confidence in children. ___

E14. Children feel safe in the environment provided by the facility. ___

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E15. Staff has the knowledge to address children questions. ___

E16. Staff is consistently courteous and kind to children. ___

Empathy

E17. The Early Childhood Education program gives children and parents individual

attention. ___

E18. The Early Childhood Education program has operating hours convenient

to all parents. ___

E19. Staff give the children individual attention. ___

E20. The Early Childhood Education program understands each individual child’s

needs. ___

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Appendix C: Obtaining and Understanding the SERVQual score

Once receiving the survey responses, obtain the SERVQual score using the following steps:

1. Obtain the score for each of the 22 expectation questions

2. Obtain a score for each of the perception questions

3. Calculate the Gap Score for each of the statements (Gap Score = Perception -

Expectation)

4. Obtain an average Gap Score for each dimension by adding all the Gap Scores and

dividing by the total number of questions in that section

5. Sum up the average Gap Score for each dimension and divide by five to obtain the

measure of service quality

If a dimension’s gap score is negative, the service provided was worse than expected. In other

words, a gap exists between expectations and perceptions, indicating quality improvement is

necessary.

Sources: Donlagic, 2015