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Regular stakeholder research offers meaningful – "trackable"  data

The Wall Street Journal reported that a typical football game has a total of 11 minutes of actual game activity, in the midst of 49 minutes of routine activities related to the playing of the game. A typical broadcast of a National Football League game has 12 minutes of shots of coaches and referees. Let that sink in for a minute.

School district leaders can relate. For all the energy that comes from a visit to a classroom full of excited first-graders, a Friday night football game at a packed stadium or the presentation of diplomas at the end of students’ high school careers lies a lot of routine, repetitive activity critical to the operation of the school district.

While these responsibilities are hardly day brighteners for most public education professionals (and if they are, I’m concerned about you…), they are essential to the operation of the school district, of course. 

Most are calendar (or, at least seasonally) driven. Monthly and annual financial reports. Board agendas followed by Board minutes. State testing and the reporting of the results, and so on. These critical tools of school district operations track metrics that must be monitored on a schedule. 

Creating a routine research schedule with a cross-section of residents in your community is just as important, for the very same reasons. School districts that conduct research every year, every 18 months or even every two years find a number of benefits:

  • It creates trackable data. Monitoring the ebb and flow of patron opinion keeps school districts from only seeing the trees (the loudest voices in the community) by presenting a routine picture of the forest (what typical residents are thinking).
  • It measures the success of strategic decisions. One school district we work with saw a rather modest score on a question dealing with the awareness in the community of the district’s School Board members and all the work they do. The district set a data goal on that topic and created strategies and tactics to improve that score. The next survey, it saw the results of its efforts.
  • It sends a message of interest to the community. Telephone surveys require only interviewing a fraction of your community members (typically 400 or fewer) to secure results that are statistically reliable. But sending out the message that the survey process is happening is one more piece of evidence to the community that its opinions are valued. (Really want to send a message of inclusion? Pair a phone survey with an identical online survey for patrons. The data is supplemental, rather than statistically reliable, but it’s good information and it gives the district an opportunity to say, “We want to hear from everyone, whether you are called or not.”)

Thumbs up for school districts (and their voters)!

All five school districts for whom Patron Insight provided planning research ahead of this April's election, found success at the ballot box, with six ballot issues passing.

A shout-out goes to the Basehor-Linwood (Kansas), Independence, Bolivar, Rolla and Festus (Missouri) school districts and their campaign committees for putting the data from the survey to good use and creating messages that resonated with the voters. Their students, staff and communities will benefit, because of their hard work.

Congratulations!

Patron Insight on the road and on the air

Patron Insight CEO/Partner Ken DeSieghardt had the pleasure of delivering a keynote address on the subject of “Building trust” to the Wisconsin Area School District Administrators (WASDA) conference earlier this month. Thank you to WASDA for the invitation and hospitality.

Ken was also the featured guest on the May 15 “NSPRA Power Hour” educational audio conference, discussing the findings from the national Trust Project research study, and what they mean for K-12 leaders seeking to build trusting district/stakeholder relationships. The study was a cooperative effort of Patron Insight and the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA), and it was supported by the National Association of School Boards.

And if you are coming to the National School Public Relations Association’s Annual Conference in July in Nashville, check out Ken’s breakout session on “Effective Climate Studies” and his Goldmine session on the findings from the Trust Project study.

Best Practices Consortium

Peers sharing ideas to 
enhance learning for all.
How cool is that?
Learn more.

School Communication that Works: On class sizes

"Aim for a middle ground. Patrons want to hear that you take this issue seriously and that you are monitoring the situation, so that ‘class sizes do not impact our students' ability to learn.
(Page 101)

Order your copy of the book here, and support the National School Public Relations Association in the process.


Ken DeSieghardt
Ken DeSieghardt
816-225-0668

Rick Nobles
Rick Nobles
913-484-0920

Craig Larson
Dr. Craig Larson
314-267-6992

Dennis Fisher
Dr. Dennis Fisher
816-392-7387

Marsha Chappelow
Dr. Marsha Chappelow
314-910-7401

Dr. Chris Belcher
Dr. Chris Belcher
573-239-7356

Steve Mulvenon
Dr. Steve Mulvenon
775-690-1145

Susan Nenonen
Susan Nenonen
913-481-7080


Patron Insight, Inc. 
19733 Birch Street
Stilwell, KS 66085
Office: 913-814-7626 
Fax: 913-814-3864 
info@patroninsight.com


Patron Insight, Inc.
19733 Birch Street • Stilwell, KS 66085
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