work session. So there's no need to call the meeting to order or to do an approval of an agenda. We just got a couple items on here, but we should start by saying the pledge. So do that. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Uh just a quick reminder of the meeting protocols that are set in place just to run a respectful public meeting. I don't need to go over all day. It looks like we have a small audience so I expect we'll be good. Um so on our first item for the work session, we're going to hear from Darren with school perceptions and he's going to give us about 30 minutes to go over a presentation on the results of our three surveys. Thanks Darren. >> You bet. My pleasure. All right. Pull up my point and we'll walk through a combined slideshow that >> Oh, is it not working? >> Oh, I guess I I just have to go off the board, which is just fine. Sorry. It's not showing up on my laptop, that's all. So, before we get started, I kind of want to just give an overview of what you're going to see. We're going to go through the the student report, the staff report, and the parent report. And there's some overarching themes that are quite exciting for me to put together on your behalf. Year two in this process is where it gets really exciting for us as a company to serve you because you start to see trends and you start to see improvements. Sometimes you'll see regression and there's a number of reasons that you have regressions. Some it could be just timing, budgetary circumstances, could be based on decision- making where you're ask more of one group which makes them less happy, but you're pushing for another initiative like improved student achievement which is hard work. All that being said, the good news in your report is most of your data is incredibly stable. There's been some significant growth in an area that's the hardest to move the needle. In fact, I have districts trying to um improve student behavior. They're pulling in outside resources and professional development agencies just to improve student behaviors. And the trend across all three reports is that all three groups, staff, student, parents are reporting the student behaviors getting better. Student behaviors impact learning for kids, impacts parents because they want their kids to feel safe and impacts instruction because teachers want to teach, not manage personalities and manage behavior. So that being said, I would say this report in summary is largely celebratory because you moved the hardest area to move and that's student behavior in all three reports through the [clears throat] eyes of the survey takers. Okay, that being said, um we're going to start with the students for anyone listening online or in the audience some background about our [clears throat] then each of the three powerpoints will show you who took the survey and the ways we can break out for deeper study the different that did respond to the survey and I'll give a summary and analysis. And there'll be a lot of numbers. I'll warn you because we're going to show you last year's numbers, this year's numbers, calculate a percentage change, and then show you where that leaves you on a national percentile basis compared to other districts in our in our um server. Okay. So, that being said, anyone that's new to us, uh we've been doing this for 24 years. We've done 3.3 million of these staff student surveys now in all 50 states and five foreign countries. We've helped over 1400 districts with strategic planning and referendum planning like the bond survey that we did on behalf of the district a few months ago. So let's talk about the student survey which this is the first time in my four years at the company I can say I'm giving a student report where not one single item redressed. Every measure by which we asked students how things are going either stayed the same or it improved which I've serve districts as small as 79 children, 500 children all the way up to a district as big as yours in Green Bay. And it is very very hard for a district your size to accomplish what you're going to see in all three of these reports in some of these places. But then not have one single item regress when we checked in with kids about how it's going. I've never done it. I've never gave a presentation where nothing redressed. So, let's let's show you more specifically how things how things moved. Um, so here's a way we can disagregate the the data by uh site. And I showed uh Andy in in his cabinet how to do that. And we have better reports than ever as far as how to look at the results site by site. Uh we can look at the student data by specific grade. We can break it down by gender if we're so inclined. We can break it out by race if if you need that kind of data. And so I'll remind you this is the the rating scale we use. Uh the the the part that's missing here is a three. Uh remind you the reason we do that is because we're not going to give three points to someone who says I'm not sure. We're going to give them zero points if they say I'm not sure. Don't know. We want to measure leanings in all three surveys. So you have conclusive data to good or to the negative how things are going. This year something This is something I haven't shown this board. I'm going to show you your summary index slide on how the the overarching areas are doing. But I wanted to show you before I do that which questions feed each of those indexes. So the kids have four indexes. How connected they feel to the school, how their learning is going, the environment of the school, and their overall school experience. And so I put together these two slides to show you roughly eight to 10 questions for each of those index areas. And then I'm going to show you your first slide of results. So with those four summary areas, you see this year's current score, the previous score is last year at this time at the time of the survey being taken. Percentage change. Now that is averaging all of those eight to nine questions in each index together. And what happened to them? Well, they all grew. All four indexes grew. As I already kind of a spoiler alert, all the questions grew or stayed the same. So, this is this is phenomenal for a survey where 5,000 students took the [clears throat] survey. And this is really good stuff. Where that leaves you then on the comparison percentile in yellow, I'm going to do a little reminder about percentile ranks here. That compares you to other districts that have taken the same question. And so 45th percentile just to illustrate it means you're right in the average range. If you're the best district around the 99th percentile and if it's a question that is really really worrisome you have to be in the first percentile within bands. If you're 75th or above we would consider that elite 25th or below we'd say worth further study and targeted improvement. Does that make sense? So 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s kind of upper average, lower average, 75 and above strength, 25th or below um area for for for focus. So just to give you some context though, not every story can be told in percentile rank. So I'm going to show you an example here before I get into your data this year. Look at these two questions. Um I'm satisfied with our school's efforts to address bullying and my child my child feels safe at school. Two parent questions. Haven't sh data based on percentile rank. We might say, well, we got to we got to work with that my child feels safe at school question because it didn't improve as much and it's at the 24th percentile. But we can't just look at those two scores because look at the other data. 90% of the parents said that they that their child feels safe at school. You're above a four compared to 67% are happy with the bullying efforts in your 3.36. So, I'm going to show you five scores this year across each question. Don't just focus on percent comparison percentile. Don't just focus on on percentage change. You got to look at the others, too. And why would you say, "Well, how can you get the 24th percentile, but you're 90% agreement?" That's because all schools are chasing improvement. They're putting in cameras. They're making sure they have secure entries. Some of them have SRO's, school resource officers. So school safety is a nationwide movement. Getting everyone to deal with the bullies the same way in a sat satisfactory measure in the eyes of parents tougher than saying you have to check in at the office before I'm going to let you go down to your child's classroom. Very very different challenges. Okay? Because you you're dealing with staff members all trying to deal with misbehaving children in the classrooms in a similar manner. Oh, by the way, for your district across 23 sites, okay, does that make sense? So that makes sense to you. want to report that all three presentations and I'll try to get to the half hour mark that I I tried to uh I'm going to try to come unpack this. So let's took look at question by question I can relate to what I'm learning. So these are all sorted by the way by percent change. So highest percent change to lowest percent change. Now notice these aren't seismic changes but we as a company get really excited when there's a percent change of three or more. I would tell you in a district size. I'm going to drop that to 2% or more because that means all 5,000 kids are moving the right direction together largely. Okay. District, as I said, in North Dakota, 79 kids. You got two kids change their opinion and you'd get 3% change. Very different challenge for for your district. So, let's go through the list. I need help. I can talk to my teachers outside of class. Nice growth. Not quite the percentile rank we'd like to see, but move in the right direction. My teachers explaining things in a way that I get. My teachers making their classes fun and interesting. All of you by two more than 2%. My teachers call me in class. There's a percentile rank that would probably work further study. And again, I've shown the district leaders how to drill down and see where is this most problematic at site. You're not just chasing this across all 23 sites, but knowing which buildings are particularly have a bigger problem than others. I try my best at school through the eyes of the kids identical to last year and I can go online or use a device when I need it. It doesn't have comparison scores this year because we changed the wording. We added up not including my cell phone. But I'll tell you compared to last year if we had changed the wording it changed by 9%. So now the kids are not measuring whether they can check their phone. Do I really have the Chromebook or technological tool I need to have 9% growth across a district this size? Okay, let's talk about life at school. Most kids at school follow the rules. 5% growth as a percentile. Love to see that. Feel safe answering questions in class even when I'm not sure I have the right answer. That shows the courage now. I can be myself. I can take a risk. No one's going to tease me. 3.5% growth. Students treat me with respect. All these respect and interpersonal things. 3.4% growth. If I were bullied, I feel comfortable talking to someone. Okay. So now I have a bad experience. Can I approach someone in school? They're going to do something about it. Yes. 3.4% growth. I can be myself at school. 66 3.3%. I know my teachers care about me. Nice growth there. Students break a rule to school at the school they're treated fairly. Um that is comparison percentile that show up. I'll look that up for you. >> I think that's a question. >> That's right. That's what it was. Yes. Yes. We don't have that in our Thank. We don't have that in our database, but that shows how it changed from last year. We said um we wanted to know at school general question we ask is if a child breaks rule they're treated fairly we added at school so they were really rating their school specifically I like to learn new things grew by 1.8% and teachers treat me with respect grew by 1.4%. So again, nothing in the double digits, but I couldn't imagine that that a district your size would be able to achieve that growth because that would just something significant would have really had to happen. What I like is all these tonal questions about kids following the rules, feeling safe, being themselves, the way that all that data moved. And then finally, people around me, well, if they're feeling comfortable and they're excited about what they're learning, I talk to people outside of school about what I'm learning. If I have a big problem at school, there's an adult I can talk to about it. Nice growth there. I like working in groups with my classmates. 73rd percentile getting into that elite range, which is really exciting. My parents or guardians help me with school as much as they can if I ask. 53rd percentile. I have friends who help me when I need help. I like helping other people when I can. And then I have friends I sit with at lunch or hang out with at school. very stable data from last year and all very acceptable percentile ranks. Know that when we talk about your comparison pool, by the way, you don't have a lot of districts in the United States that are your size. 80% of districts are 2,000 or less kids. So, it is really rare to have a district your size. So, we did is we we grabbed all the biggest districts we have in our server to compare them to you, but there's only a handful that are in the the teens of thousands. Okay? So, it's not necessarily apples to apples. I think they're they're all in the fruit family, but they're not all apples to apples. Okay. So, um we did check into the kids said, "What what makes learning hard for you?" Fourth through eighth graders, distracting behaviors of other kids. That's why was I leading with the good news? Because this is their number one worry when they come to school every day about what's going to stand in the way of learning behaviors of other children. So, the fact that your district made that an area of focus and that was carried forward by your building administration to have this kind of results can't say enough. It's the number one request we get as a company is, can you turn this to someone to help us with behavior? You did it internal with your leadership team. Thank you for 12th graders. Too much stress is number one, but number two, even though they're older and more mature, they want kids to behave too so they can focus on their stuff. We ask them about homework. Is it more than just busy work? uh grew by 1.3% as the 40th percentile. Love that. Want to be more than just wrote activities. We want to be meaningful. And overall satisfaction 3.7% growth on the student survey compared to last year when we say most days I like my school. So to summarize, I summarize your data this year three different ways. Five highest scoring items. Now I'll just pause. So it goes in Then lowest scoring all about that median three or above that we like to see then percentage change five has changed the most on a percentile basis. We had to retitle this slide. We said sometimes save five items that decline the most. We didn't have it. So we had to say five items with the least. And finally, five items with the greatest percentile rank compared to other districts. items with the lowest percentile rank compared to other issues. Again, tend to use 25th percentile as just kind of a our internal cut off score where we say scratch our chin and try to study that further to understand why kids feel that way. We also did the activity that we did in last year's data retreat. I put that in the presentation this year. We have the questions that matter most when we ask the kids if they like their school. And I broke it up by 4th through 8th and 9 through 12. Uh fourth through eighth graders, they want to feel safe. They want the bullies to be dealt with. You want to feel safe answering questions. Well, you saw your scores on that. So, not only did you surge in some areas, but you made improvement in areas that matter most to kids. [snorts] Are your scores added in? If you're wondering why that 0 to 10 score grew by 3.7% it's right there in those top five because they matter the most. They impact that posing question the most. And you think bigger kids, high school kids, their list to be different. It's not that different. They want to feel safe. They want the be the bullies to be dealt with too. They just want to use their device. And believe it or not, they want their parents to be engaged on learning and to be available if they need help. There's your data on those areas. And here I included that I can go online and use the device even though it's new wording. I put the data in there up to a 4.23 which is 9.4% better than last year once we've clarified what we mean by educational device. Okay. Any about the student data? All right, let's talk about parent data. Um there's there was an 11% participation rate which is down uh by by several hundred. We justcliped around 2,000 last year. I think there's some survey fatigue uh based on just having asked them about referendum and the feedback on the facilities. But what I tell you there's still two critical benchmarks that we hit. We find the data is incredibly reliable. Once you get 10% or more surveys, it pairs with 500 or more surveys. That's the double win. Well, you got triple the 500 we like to see and you're over 10%. So, I'd tell you I think this data is still an indicator of how people are feeling um and can be used for planning. Um but there are some factors that may have influenced some of your data points and we'll get into that. I can drill down by where they live by the municipality if you ask me to. I can I've already provided this to administration and we can look at the data by sites. We can look by grade level. They have that at their fingertips as well where they can just um scan across and see if there's certain grade levels where things are surging or declining. We can identify special services that are provided to the children and talented plan, ELLL plan, 504 plan, a medical condition, etc. We study the results by race. And the opening question we said, hey, what are the areas that you think are most important for the future of the district? Budgets are tight. So we say to them, for they have to live in your world. You can't it's not an endless list of things we can pursue for prioritization. What is most important? Well, your your parents said life skills, functional skills, career and technical education. And one that is on the rise is recruit and retain high quality staff. My first couple of years on the job, we didn't see that in the top four or five very often, but as talent pools shrink. Um we kids going into the educational field, it's becoming all the more critical to recruit and retain the top staff that you do have. The message is getting home to parents. They know any of these other areas. Go to page two and see math. Don't misunderstand. I'll remind you. It doesn't mean math's not important to them. It means that they're likely very satisfied with the math that's being provided. And if they had to choose about you advancing an area, [snorts] budgeting new dollars towards an area to grow and further, this actually should be an endorsement of your math programming and some of these other credit foreign language things of that nature. They want you to focus these top four for the future to really focus on those. And I typically advise districts just focus on the top four like we asked them to. There's a pretty clean cut line there. All right, let's talk about their indexes. So, Parents have an index on how informed they feel, how included they feel in regards to the child, the educational excellence the child is experiencing, the atmosphere of the school, the questions that and their overall experience with how they see their their child being accepted, respected, and supported. Your scores were largely very very stable compared to last year. in the start of the presentation is going to show you where there wasn't that stability. Um, see the scores, see the percentage change, just one area moved and you'll see see why in percentile ranks. Um, again, not where I would like to report them. I would say the student record is more I'd love to see you, but again, it's year two and changes slow. This is not unusual for one report to grow, another one to stand a little bit more path because um it's very hard to chase improvements across all three population staff, parents, and students all at the same time. I shared with Andy, I have a district in northern Wisconsin about 2,000 kids where finally in year four, all three reports grew grew together for the first time because there's always a regression one in one area as you're chasing improvements in another. So let's talk about your results on on the first section where we talk about leadership and communication. These are the three lowest scoring items on the parent survey. District administration doing what it takes makes our district successful regressed by 3.6%. District heading in the right direction uh regress by 5.3% and the school board is doing what it takes to make our district so successful regress by 6%. get that surprise out of the way and it's not the kind of surprise you wanted. But then the rest of the report pretty stable. Um, communication very similar to last year 2100s different communication by school identical score to last year. So when I see this kind of stability even though a few hundred less took it, it tells me that the data can hold up and and largely you can you can count on the in most of these items for your plan. Um, communication, they want to continue with emails, automated phone calls, infinite campus, and then fourth, meetings with teachers, administrator, that personal contact. So, let's talk about the questions. These are largely focused on how they're feeling about their school experience. So, I talked about all three surveys measuring exciting things with behaviors. Right out of the gate here, I'm satisfied with our school's efforts to address bullying. 3 4% growth. Can't stress to you how hard that is to do when you're surveying thousands of parents across your system as the 33rd percentile. Also, I know how to support my child's learning grew modestly but the right direction. Overall, my my child was able to handle the emotional challenges of school and being updated how my child was doing. Not quite the percent change that you saw in the student survey, but still move in the right direction. My child feels safe at school, very similar to last year. Feeling welcome in my child's school. There's healthy culture at our school and school having high expectations for my child. All very, very similar to last year. My child breaks the rule at school, they're treated fairly. 1/100th difference. School teaching of materials that reflect my family's cultural and racial backgrounds. One 100th difference school facilities clean and wellkept very similar to last year and most days my child enjoys going to school very similar to last year as well. school providing opportunities for parental involvement. Similar I have opportunities to provide feedback to school and teachers similar but at the percentile school staff treat my child what they need and respect. My child gets help when they need it. communication timely and transparent. At least one staff member I feel comfortable contacting whenever I have concern and I'm satisfied with how much my child is learning. So you notice there nothing um more than a 1.3% regression on any of the items once we got past the three introductory questions. We asked them about homework. Too much too little. 67% is just right. co-curricular involvement. 74% of your parents report that their child is involved in something, which I'd love to see. I love lot of I've got some districts down in the low 60s that are trying to grow their student engagement because some kids don't come to school to learn. They come to school to participate and learning is a byproduct of being in that club or that activity. Um so it's important to have those those activities beyond the learning day. Uh we do always check in on internet access to make sure that you can feel confident sending home an e learning activity. The overall satisfaction uh regress by 2.3% and I and I'll I'll show you at the end what what caused that um to be 2.3%. So as we unpack your data, five highest scoring items on our lighter rating scale, facilities, staff, treatment of children, safety, really help support my child's learning five lowest all above three percentage change. These five grew the most. These are the five with the greatest speed. Finally, comparison percentile five highest when compared to uh districts in our comparison pool. And then that are lowest when compared to peer districts that we work with. Again, it's a two-year look back, by the way. So, every every time we pull the data, it's based on July 1st of two years ago. We don't want to be 5-year-old data. We want it's the whole idea of rising tides raise all votes. So, as other districts are chasing improvements, as you are, you're competing against the bar that's being raised by other districts trying to get better, too. That's why when I see some of the particular in a student report something exciting because it's a target area for everybody behaviors are what questions matter the most to the eyes your parents we talked about that last summer but I don't expect you to remember all of this safety is number one board high expectations for learning and children getting help right behind it and then culture school culture district administration and school facilities That's your top top seven items in the eyes of the parent. So when we talk about that 0 to 10 what I recommend the district or friend or family member 2.3% it's large largely on the shoulders of these questions because they move the needle on that data the most. So as I show you your scores there um the questions that we showed you at the beginning of the survey kind of reflect why that why that happened. I do I do have to say to you as a board um having the parent survey right after the bond survey and knowing that that that the um it's basically a 50/50 split on where things are going to go with your facility planning and there's some people that were really on board and some people that really weren't on board. I don't think that helped your board and district administration and district direction scores. I mean I think there's people taking the survey evaluating that because when they really got down to their school, you saw how stable the data was. Didn't move too high or too low other than behavior score popped up really. That's that's what I surmise because how else could all that data be different? What changed last year this year? Well, we did a a communitywide survey asking some tough questions about enrollment. Let's check in the staff. Uh 966 staff members took the survey. slight decline there too. But again, I would also say, hey, you surveyed the staff about their facilities um and those kinds of things, too. This all kind of happened in in pretty close succession. Again, break the staff data by site. You can break it up by position category. You can also break it up by years experience. And I've had more districts asking that as pensions change, as uh as insurance packages change. There's some disable with cutlines, but you're getting the old retirement package. You know, you're you're you're part of the new retirement language. Want to make sure that the young kids are feeling good about the district they're on just as much as the veterans. And I'll show you the indexes for staff. We have academic questions. We have questions about how engaged they feel. We have questions about how supported they feel. The student experience the staff and their whole staff experience and look at the nice progression within the staff questions. All five indexes grew, which is really exciting as well. It's not often I can say that. And again, I'm I'm talking about all districts that that I I do this for, no matter the size. I don't often I told I'll say it again. have never had a student report that didn't have a question regress and it's very rare to have all five indexes move up together. You're talking about all those questions that feed the indexes moving up together like good stuff. So, let's talk about this report. Um the workday questions, the district seeks input from a broad group of staff members. 5.4% growth. So, still not quite the percentile rank that I I know you're ultimately wanting to get to, but that's big change for a question that's really really really tough um to satisfy all respondents and them feeling like that that they have input on the system, the district. Okay. Our staff handling student discipline in a consistent manner 5% change soared up to the 66th percentile. Policies and practices being effective in behavior nearly 5% growth up to the 37th percentile. Feeling supported by my supervisor administrator when I make a decision 1.8% growth. And then questions with with that are very similar to last year. Looking forward to going to work. feeling comfortable sharing input and concerns with administration, getting information in a timely and effective manner. All very similar to last year. Our staff doing a good job educating our students. Modest regression by 2100s, but at the 75th percentile, which is elite company. And I want to point out to the board, there's some districts where recently within the last month I reported to that was their lowest question. I often get asked by words, well, of course, everybody feels like they're doing a great job. Oh, no. Anonymously, when asked really candidly to say, "Am I or my peers doing a great job for the kids?" I've had some down in the single digits in teams where they're bringing in experts to say, "We've got to get better at professional practices because we're not doing a good job for the kids." So, for a system your size, the 75th percentile, 97% agreement, that's special. probably one of the proudest data points on all three surveys. the former principles superintendent plans. Okay. The amount of work I'm asked to do reasonable manageable uh regressed a bit and has yet the eighth percentile. Um and workloads on the minds of a lot of people because I don't know a district that I've worked with these past two years that isn't cutting positions and asking more of their folks. Minnesota Wisconsin budgets are really tight and health insurance premiums are skyrocketing just costing people jobs. Um environment questions the last Last year received useful feedback to help improve my work. This is an administrative question. Are they getting meaningful feedback from their district administration, their building administration that helps them get better at their job? They want that and I grew by 2.3%. They want to feel safe at work just like the kids, just like the parents. They want training uh to work with students from different backgrounds and that approved. That's also a question that I'm getting asked on almost every project. Can you turn us to someone who can help us with getting better at working with the diverse populations because our student populations are more diverse than ever. Multiple languages, multiple different different disabilities. Um, it's it's it's kids come to school various backgrounds. Parents, have they read with them at all or if they read with them since the child was born? I mean, it's really more challenging that the gap of readiness when they come into school has never been wider. I have opportunities for training and professional development to improve my work. [snorts] Bit of growth there. Nice percentile rank on your the training you're providing as a district. Love to see that because that's staff are hard to be honest with you because everybody wants something different from those those staff development bas in services. And so that's that's commendable right particularly for a system as large as your type. I don't want to be the task of trying to have training that every district administration doing what it takes to make our district successful. slightly up from last year and recognized when I do a good job. Similar to last year, one good all students in our school are respected their bodies and beliefs. Uh top 33% 67 percentile district heading in the right direction regress a bit and then school board doing what it takes to make our district successful regress by 3100 point. And finally, how supported do they feel? Districts take practices are fair. 6% growth as in the top 21%. Good stuff. Um, social emotional needs of all students. Well, let me go back to that one. Parents want you to attract and retain staff to the best of your ability and your staff are saying you're paying me a fair wage. That interfaces very nicely with what your parents are prioritizing. Um, social emotional needs while students being met. 4% change. This is a top five priority question. staff and and parents in systems that I work with too and for a system you're big to grow that social emotional uh uh support really really impressive school having a process and sure every student has a connection with at least one adult love to see that a lot of districts targeting that that connection piece mentor mentee home room some kind of system where kids can feel a connection beyond just reporting to a classroom and the bell rings they go off to the next classrooms, staff input being valued. Obviously, a survey like this helps, but there's so many much more that needs to happen for them to feel like their input matters, and that's clearly happening. Access to the technology support they need. You were strong last year. You moved up more. Our school support students from diverse backgrounds, very similar to last year. Our parents and community support the district very similar to last year. We'll watch this question very closely next year because the outcome of the referendum will really affect how the staff see this question. I see it every project I'm on where they've done a referendum and then we come back to the staff survey. Um, for some reason that weren't to pass the staff will kind of take that personally. Healthy working relationships with my co-workers, top 20% almost identical to last year. All students in our school are given equal opportunities to learn and it's great success. I have the technology I need to do my job well and I have the materials and supplies I need to do my job well. facility planning. We did ask the the staff beyond the referendum questions what other things were on their mind as far as facility needs and they said public walking tracks, swimming pool, gym space were the top three. Overall satisfaction almost identical to last year. Uh 46th percentile. really makes me happy about this report is look at how low the zero ones and two rating scales are from the staff. They can take this anonymously in the safety of their work environment and you have very few people there but it's really top 52% you get eight n or 10 top five by raw score bottom five percentage change lots to celebrate behaviors, practices, meeting the needs of the kids and getting input. Really, really neat things here. And some regression, but look at the contrast here. Six, five, five, four, four regressions. We we wouldn't even count the zeros, 0.6s, and the 1.1s. That's minuscule on a survey surveying as many employees as you did. Maybe worth talking about the workload, what they're feeling in that regard. Percentile rank really elite things here. You have three in that cut score. We'd say that is like topnotch rare air pumping. And then these are the lowest percentile rank bases. And finally, what questions matter the most to the employees? I remind you they want to have confidence in the district and that comes from district administration, fair pay, parents, community supporting the district and their school board. Secondly, safety, professional development. They want good training dates when the kids aren't in school. They want to be recognized when they do a good job and they want to be comfortable with their administrator. your scores on those board will be the first one to get criticized if pay isn't fair in a budget amidst tight budget. So I I I can't say enough how that was really surprised to me but staff are feeling good about behaviors things are moving the right direction. So all three reports you saw, staff are reporting that the behaviors are being dealt with better than ever. Parents are saying that and the kids on the front line, the reason we open our doors every day, they're saying the same thing. So that's my report for you this year. I know that wasn't half an hour. So I apologize, but also lots there wanted to get some explainers, any questions from anyone on the board. >> I [clears throat] was going to say student, you know, d compared to parent data. Do you ever see that you know students are feeling better about things and life for them is getting better but yet their parents don't see that doesn't reflect is there usually a lag there? >> Oh it's a district I decided where it took a couple years before um the reports all got to the same level. It takes a little time for that that good news to get back to home. I I do think it's it's it's uh it's easier at the end of the day to share the bad news about what what complaints you have than to I think that's human nature. Um I want I want to urge you look at your celebrations here and not just focus on the things that are bothering you. It's important. Um the same thing with that it takes a little while for the the behaviors being dealt with. What's exciting to me is on the front line the kids and staff are seeing them right away. which is the fact that that bully question in the parent survey jumped by three plus%. It tells me some of the words already getting. >> Yeah. Because what I see is, you know, we had a vote on budget priorities which meant cuts. We cut several million out of the budget >> and I know at a company if you do a survey after budget cuts doesn't it doesn't add up. >> Tough on staff, tough ons, right? administration will take a hit and you know in this case the board will take a hit but if we didn't do that we'd be in a deficit we take a hit again district that had had an unsettled contract and they surveyed during that unsettled contract time and they came back later and said oh we resend it because uh now things are settled and we just would wonder how much that moved the needle with our staff will pay and all those things >> because I think one of the things that we're really focused on student outcomes. Wouldn't you all agree? And maybe maybe communications with parents. Do you think we need to do something there? >> They were communicated enough that regard I think and as you move forward with the facility planning, all those kinds of things. I think more communication because I do I do think that the the fact that you'll never make anybody happy as you're proposing a facility plan as large as you tested I can't help but stress you. I think that those first questions about board, district direction, district administration are tangled into the mindset of not everyone's going to love this plan. You saw the data. It's too close to call. So, um, but you saw how stable it was once we got on those three questions for sure at the start. By the way, I did talk to the administration u when we gave a kind of a preview to the cabinet and I said I would love it if if this district would be willing to present at the Minnesota schoolboard convention because as I said almost every district I work with is focusing on behaviors. So, if a district your size in one year can move the needle on all those behavior measures, why not share your story about what was done by the the district leaders that are on the front line working with principles and asking more of building level leadership. I mean, district of 700 kids would would love to hear how district your size get involved in that borrow. That's why we go to MSBA, right? Is to is to learn from others and get better. I think you'd have a story to tell. So, no pressure. I just we just hope we see model districts doing really exciting things. We want to tell your story on your behalf uh across the state. >> Care about all districts in Minnesota. >> Darren promised to disc. [laughter] >> Darren, I like that you look for connections between the surveys. What stood out is I'm looking at some of the disconnections and maybe we just have to tell our story better. We could all at the retreat but I'm wearing your advising what you see. So like you said what the parents want is to pay pay train and retain teachers and teachers feel like we're doing that >> for the students to feel the climate in the school increasing across the board especially with bullying is huge. It's been the focus of the board. I know um the big one I see is one of the our our top achieving ones and almost I think it ranked number two was I can be myself at school. >> Love that question. >> Right. So we scored incredibly high in that. So students feel ability to be themselves in school and they're not getting bullied. Well, I'm not going to say they're not getting bullied. We're moving the right direction. We're focusing on that. Yet we get back to the other survey and the one thing they want us to do is they say, "But my student is accepted and that receives a lower score." So there's there's some disconnect there in what we're seeing. concerns. >> You were just saying a little bit like sometimes what's happening in school goes school teachers, parents. Have you seen this in other districts? Do you know what they're doing? >> Almost every time. I think there's a number of things you can do. Um, you know, I think the best thing you could do is report out these findings right back to the parents and and share out a synopsis of what you learned. Um, and put that in a newsletter. Um I mean I I don't know if you know about any the paper but if you can put [clears throat] in the paper that the good news that all three survey reports show improved um reporting from all three groups on student behavior. Um you know media matters and and a good responsible report on um on the truth and that is where you've got we've got measures that show growth in all three populations that you're serving. That's a great story to tell. I'll offer you this. Um, you know, Andy and I, you know, you joke about you presenting at the at the at the board commission. I want nothing more than to see you flourish. Do you want me to do another uh video recording sharing these findings with parents they watch and report that back to the parents? That's something I could do. Um, I've got executive summaries that you can put on the website. You can splash out via email and put maybe the cabinet gets together and showcases areas of growth and share with them and areas that we're going to target for improvement. So it's not you're just shaping the positive stuff and sharing that out saying and we heard you and we're going to do something about these two. I mean that would be a good good communications out to parents is this is what we're proud of. The work's not done. Next year we're going to focus on these things because your social emotional questions um resonated through through the survey reports as well. front line with the kids, being yourself, approaching an adult when you need it. I mean, even when they're not feeling good about themselves, they've got adults they can go to when they're not feeling like they have the support they need. So, with learning and going, it's just really really good stuff. Yeah. So, I I think you have to you have to communicate it through multiple means in order for it to get to everybody. >> And if I remember, it was email. What was the other one that parents preferred? >> Well, parents, your parents want uh the email or when they say phone and text that they're talking to you about those weather decisions at three or four in the morning that Annie loves me >> and uh but I would tell you infinite campus um is was the third choice on there that's that parent portal where they can just just go into so I would say an email summarizing the findings um a a newsletter summarizing the findings something like that as long and build into do another communication you tell them this is what we're proud of this year and this is what we're working on next year I mean I I think that's a really healthy message to show we're continuous improvement trying to get better as we serve staff, students, and parents. Maybe look for joint ventures. I don't know if you do a regular meeting. I've never really talked to Andy said you do. Hey, get that data out in there and uh and uh and tell that because uh it's it's not easy work. Just try to get staff to feel like behaviors are really getting better. I thought Sometimes I see the kids say it and the staff and parents aren't be behind. If your parents are right there with the kids, excuse me, your staff are right there with the kids and there's a bit of parental lag there. But the bullying question by 3% and that's that's a powerhouse question in the parent survey about behavior. >> I have another question for you. I noticed on 4th through 8 9 through 12 distracting student behaviors was way up there. >> That's we ask the kids what makes learning hard for you, >> right? >> And that's not necessarily saying that it's happening. Saying when you when you struggle to learn, what's what's the cause? >> They're saying because teachers have to stop teaching and deal with the ideas. >> So it's not necessarily a problem. It's just what >> what inhibits the learning environment is distractions. >> Yeah. And honestly, even if you scored at the top 10%, I've had districts where their behavior scores that the kids and staff are elite like 90% above. I'm still impressed. If learning is hard for you, why behavior? >> And have you ever uh you know, in terms of technology in the classroom on a grade level basis, have you done any questioning along that helpful >> or you a lot of trends like the LA County School District which is a lot largest in the US has started to remove electronics from the classroom. >> Yeah. >> And I'm just wondering you know what your >> It's funny you say that. I I don't talk about other districts data but I'll tell you anonymously I'm giving a presentation in about 15 minutes here up in your conference room. Thank you by the way. And we already impact their data. Their text score went down and I thought for sure it was a cell phone policy at the high school. It wasn't. They pull back how much Chromebook learning they're doing at the elementary and the kids are like taking away our laptop and making us learn in a more traditional manner and they're about dropped by like 20% amongst elementary kids. High schoolers are fine went up by 2%. Because honestly they don't want their friends on their home class too because all it does is distract the teacher. That's another behavior to manage is inappropriate tech usage. So we can drill down on that. Absolutely. any of those factors to be getting when we I showed you by site by grade level by position. Sure. I'm glad we're I always say we're just getting started just like last year we came back and give me homework assignments on the side. Let me help you make the most of your retreat. But I'm excited Randy in in and his wonderful team to show you the new spreadsheets I have for you because they're easier for you to look at than ever before. We're using a new heat map model where if things are trending up, they're shades of green. So you can see all the questions that are growing a little bit and a lot. and then shades of red for regressions. So you can just you'll see your data in a easier manner than ever before. It's really a better point about this is so you can do your own data retreats and work internally. >> I think it's been very helpful for us to use this information to formulate goals that are meaningful. I think it's been good for the administration. >> I I can't speak for that data doesn't happen by somebody has to be intentional about talking to build >> right so I mean this is a reflection upon our assistant superintendent HR maybe not finance but you know I'm [laughter] super >> you got the budget you got the budget so >> practices fair >> no I mean the whole team really worked I mean it was one of our main goals was academic focus and improving classroom experience and I think you know the numbers show that we hit out of park >> actually that's that's what inspired those new spreadsheets is I have so many districts with behavior questions they said can you help us understand which building it is or which buildings it is that is dragging it down and so we just want to make it easier for you to just go across see okay these are the buildings that need some help I mean it's it's really really really helpful to know where so you're not just chasing improvements blindly buildings that are just Sure. I know our assistant superintendent will laser focus on those things. >> So Mike, great question though. Again, I think the more you can just use the data and get it back out to people. So the I would lead with the kids because that's that's unprecedented for every measure you guys the kids to be the same or better than it was last year. >> Thank you to the administrators and our staff. All right. Thank you.