Full Report in PDF Format (255K)

More than 6,200 customers have responded to the Department's Internet customer survey since November 1996. The October 2004 memorandum updates the October 2003 report on the first 3,975 responses, which were received from November 1996 through the launch of the redesigned www.ed.gov website on September 7, 2003, and examines the 2,234 responses received between then and September 30, 2004.

Highlights

The survey responses received in the last 12 1/2 months indicate that:

• Our most frequent users are parents (23%), students (20%), teachers and professors (16%), education administrators and managers (11%), and researchers and analysts (7%). To a lesser extent, our users include librarians (1%), writers and reporters (1%), policy makers and legislators (<1%), and miscellaneous others (17%) including counselors and school support staff. Most student respondents are at the college level rather than the elementary and secondary level. Most administrators/managers and teachers are at the elementary and secondary level. Most researchers are affiliated with colleges, associations, or non-profit organizations.

• Our users' organizational affiliation is elementary and secondary education (29%), private individuals (22%), colleges and universities (17%), associations and non-profit organizations (5%), junior and community colleges (5%), for-profit organizations and businesses (3%), state government (3%), federal government (2%), libraries (2%), local government (1%), media (<1%), White House or Congress (<1%), and miscellaneous others (7%).

• 62% of respondents visit ED's Web site at least once a month; 44% visit it at least once a week. This year's responses continue to show a gradual shift toward more frequent visits. Administrators/managers tend to visit ED's Web site more frequently than the average respondent. Students tend to visit less frequently, which is consistent with the notion that most students visit solely for financial aid. Administrators/managers and researchers tend to have the fastest Internet connections; students and parents have the slowest.

• Overall satisfaction held steady at 3.51 (on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1=very dissatisfied and 5=very satisfied) in this year's responses. Teachers and parents were the most satisfied customers. Researchers and students were the least satisfied customers. Parents were significantly more satisfied than last year; administrators/managers and researchers were significantly less satisfied.

  Satisfaction ratings dropped markedly to 3.43 in the first six months after redesign launched and then rebounded to 3.59 for the last six months. The reasons for the fluctuation appear to be negative reaction to the redesign followed by acclimation and acceptance, positive reaction to usability improvements made in response to customer feedback, and improved ratings as broken links were fixed and bookmarks were updated.

  Satisfaction was highest in the five responsiveness (3.72) and presentation (3.67) categories and lower in the information content (3.43) and organization (3.34) categories. The highest-rated individual categories were web screen responsiveness (3.82), clarity of writing (3.75), search responsiveness (3.70), clarity of graphics (3.70), clarity of tables/charts (3.70), and webmaster responsiveness (3.61). The lowest-rated categories were ease of finding information of interest (3.25), search tools (3.32), comprehensiveness (3.32), ease of finding new material (3.33), relevance to needs (3.35), overall usefulness (3.36), and menus and categories (3.38).

• Respondents consider most kinds of information ED provides to be useful or very useful. The overall usefulness rating dropped this year from 2.27 to 2.18 (on a scale of 1 to 3 where 1=not useful and 3=very useful). Ratings dropped for 16 of the 19 categories. Ratings rose most for statistics and research findings. Ratings dropped most for descriptions of ED-funded projects, general guides to the Department, legislation/regulations, updates on budget/legislation, and descriptions of exemplary schools and programs.

• When asked how ED's Internet services should be improved, respondents suggested:
  

  • putting all ED information online promptly and keeping it up-to-date;
  • presenting information in layman's terms with simple explanations of complicated rules and procedures;
  • providing a tutorial or quick tour for first-time visitors to help them navigate the site;
  • providing an orientation to the Department, including its mission, scope, organization, functions, history, etc.;
  • providing complete contact information for all Department officials, programs, services, activities, and investigative/enforcement functions;
  • improving responsiveness to customer inquiries;
  • improving ease of use for student financial aid services and making it easier to find specific student aid services;
  • providing comparative rating and ranking information about schools, districts, and states;
  • using the web to support the full grant lifecycle, including an always-current forecast of funding opportunities, comprehensive, up-to-date information about each grant program in a consistent format, and information to help prospective applicants;
  • offering more information and resources of direct utility to parents and teachers; and
  • providing a more comprehensive gateway to education information and services elsewhere.