Predicting Parental Satisfaction from School Level and Parental Demographics for Private Christian K-12 Schools in the Southeast United States

The purpose of this quantitative, predictive correlational study was to investigate the relationship between parental satisfaction in private Christian K-12 schools, school level (primary or secondary), and multiple parental demographic variables. The multiple parental demographic variables include geographic location, ethnicity, gender, religious affiliation, education level, and parental income. This study is important because private Christian school enrollment has been on a decline and will help educational institutions to understand better how to appeal to prospective families. Students and parents of private schools tend to have a high level of stakeholder investment, and parent satisfaction is an outcome that indicates whether the enterprise offering services is doing a good job. Participants for this study included a sample of (140) parents of students who attend a K-12 private Christian school in the Southeast region of the United States. Data was collected using the Tuck 1995 Customer Satisfaction Survey and a few demographic questions both administered via Qualtrics survey. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the predictive relationship between the variables. The findings revealed that there was not a statistically significant predictive relationship between parent satisfaction and a linear combination of school level and other demographic variables (F(20, 119) = 1.398, p < .137, R2 = .054). This study’s findings contribute to parent satisfaction research for students attending a K-12 private Christian school. Recommendations for future research include using another parent satisfaction survey, conducting a prospective experimental or quasi-experimental design, and adding additional clarifying questions when studying parent satisfaction in private Christian K-12 schools.