Margaret Rutherford, a development technology specialist for a Texas school district, was tasked with collecting survey data from parents and elementary school students in order to create a grant proposal. After collecting the surveys from the respondents, some of which had been returned in poor condition, she was able to use Remark Office OMR to analyze the information and make professional looking reports.
The challenge was to process surveys designed, distributed and collected by someone else.
“Early this Fall, a principal of an elementary campus asked if I could help her create a teacher and parent survey to collect data for a grant. Agreeing to help, I waited for the draft of her form to arrive, so that I could create a survey form using Gravic’s guidelines for use with Remark Office OMR. Then I could create the template and copy the form for all the campuses to be surveyed.”
“A few weeks later, the principal came to my office with six sets of surveys completed by teachers and parents.” The principal had typed out the form, duplicated it and gave it to teachers and sent it home to parents. The parent survey forms had been folded, crumbled and some had small tears. I found out that the children had taken the forms home and returned these in every imaginable condition!”
“Both the teacher and parent survey forms had columns that did not line up. The bubbles were marked in many ways. Some respondents had marked lines through the bubbles and some made large Xs extending above and below the bubbles. Every color of ink pen and marker had been used. To make matters worse, there was not a single blank form left to scan to create a template.”
“I did not think that Remark Office OMR could handle the situation, but I also knew that the survey forms would take a long time to tally by hand. With some work, I was able to create a template and scan the surveys. Then, I tallied the surveys and created the final reports. Our Title I coordinator who was writing the grant was very pleased with the professional looking reports!”
“With Remark Office OMR, I’ve been able to help more individuals conduct surveys and needs assessments. This software provides an inexpensive way to effectively assess needs and evaluate programs. It has saved time and has been a means to deliver meaningful services.”