July 2020

The shift to remote learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the indispensable role that families play in meeting students’ educational needs. The New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) continues to applaud parents and caregivers for guiding students’ through remote learning while grappling with the personal and economic hardships posed by COVID-19.

In June, the NJDOE administered a parent survey designed to inform the NJDOE’s recently released reopening guidance entitled, “The Road Back: Restart and Recovery Plan for Education.”

The survey was available online from June 2, 2020, through June 8, 2020. The survey’s goal was to capture the following information: the level of confidence of parents and caregivers regarding school opening in the fall; health and safety concerns for students returning to school during the ongoing pandemic; and perceptions of the effectiveness and equity of remote learning during the spring 2020 school closings. The survey adhered to the following parameters:

• Responses were anonymous and no demographic, geographic, student grade, or specific school information was collected.
• The survey was publicly available in both English and Spanish.
• The survey was accessible through the New Jersey Department of Education’s website and social media pages.
• No verification step was required to attest that the responder was a parent or caregiver of a New Jersey student.
• The survey only allowed for one response per device.
• Correspondence seeking participation in the parent survey was forwarded to schools through the NJDOE’s 21 county offices, nonpublic schools office, external stakeholders, and partner organizations.

The following pages summarize the results of this survey. The variable “n” represents the number of responses received for a given question.