Climate surveys are essential for your community engagement efforts. They’re key for engaging your educational partners, understanding improvement areas enhancing your community, and fostering thriving learning environments. With budget constraints, rising demands, and lack of data clarity,, leaders need to ensure they are doing climate surveys right. Leaders need deep insights to enhance school climate and make impactful changes. However, many districts still rely on traditional surveys, consultants, and freeware, which often fall short. A robust engagement and survey platform will get you high-quality data for informed, effective decisions. It should provide a holistic view of your climate data as well as nuanced qualitative and robust quantitative data with instant, in-depth AI analysis. While it should help you understand what your participants are concerned about, it should also tell you why. Relying on one platform for all your climate survey needs will save your district time and money, so you can put it back where it matters most–the classroom. Building trust, empathy, and belonging with your engagement strategy Many education leaders are grappling with staff burnout and attrition, school security, representative community engagement, staff buy-in, policy changes, attendance and enrollment, and more. To tackle these difficult issues, an engagement strategy needs to gather robust data while building trust between community and leadership, empathy between groups, and ensuring everyone feels a sense of belonging. What makes a great community engagement strategy? To create a successful, future-proof strategy, use an approach that broadens your scope, listens to your community, and acts on their insights. For optimal success over both the short and long term, your strategy should aim for three goals: To enhance and broaden access to community feedback To be easily accessible for all groups To be efficient and effective in data collection and analysis You need methods that align communities on the district's priorities, and help competing interests find common ground and move forward together. Next-gen engagement drives better outcomes, mitigates risk, and builds buy-in and support from your community. Next-gen engagement solutions As an education leader, you face timeless problems yearly. The problems may remain the same, but the solutions don’t have to. From social media to the virtual-first, post-pandemic world, your community demands to be included in a way that works for them. When developing your engagement strategy, keep these three things in mind: Listen to your community To mitigate lack of trust in leadership, listen to your community to understand their needs and concerns. Let them know you’re listening by acting on their insights. Engage in conversation, not just one-way communication. Letting your people know you’re listening and that their insights affect decisions, builds trust and buy-in. Your community will be more likely to support—not sabotage—a strategy or decision. Get the right tech Incorporate an easy-to-use, intuitive platform into your strategic planning process. Make sure it includes multilingual capabilities and can be accessed on any device. Using an accessible tech solution in addition to meetings and town halls allows you to capture more voices and create representative conversations. Choose a platform that fits your district’s needs. Where platforms like Panorama feature rigid templates, overwhelming data volume, and generic next steps, Qualtrics is built for enterprise instead of K-12 and is complex and expensive. In comparison, ThoughtExchange is built specifically for K-12 districts— it’s flexible to meet your district’s unique needs, intuitive enough for anyone to use, and robust enough to deliver actionable, personalized insights. AI tools like Advisor and Article help you analyze data quickly and easily and recommend customized next steps. [CALL OUT BOX] Comparing school climate survey tools? Learn more. Panorama Education– Standard, rigid feedback collection methods.ThoughtExchange–Captures districts’ unique needs and nuances. See full comparison Qualtrics– Powerful but complex and expensive.Not designed for K-12 education. ThoughtExchange– Intuitive, education-first platform., Fast to implement, and designed for meaningful impact at scale. See full comparison SurveyMonkey– Great for simple forms.Not built for strategy or community engagement. ThoughtExchange–Empowers deeper conversations, instantly uncovers themes, and provides tools to act on what you hear–not just collect responses. See full comparison Communicate early and often Communicate early and often about your intentions and what your community can expect. Let your community know you value their insights and they have impact. Then follow up to show how their insights are being used. Communicating your intentions and letting your people know you value their insights will help them feel heard and invested in your community engagement strategy’s outcomes—making for supported, successful strategies. [Customer Example] Douglas SD’s New Superintendent Builds Trust With Transparent Decision-Making Kevin Case, Superintendent of Douglas School District 51-1 in Box Elder, South Dakota, has used every type of survey and engagement process imaginable. He has a lot of experience with special interests and quiet constituents, and he values ThoughtExchange’s ability to level the playing field in community engagement. “One of the things I truly love about ThoughtExchange is that the loudest voice in the room doesn't resonate,” he explains. “The beauty of an Exchange is everyone in the room has an equal voice. It also allows us to find a common language. We might use a word as educators our community is unfamiliar with because they use a different word for the same thing.” Using ThoughtExchange as a survey and engagement platform at Douglas SD builds community-wide engagement into how Case hears from his staff, students, and community members. Not only can his leadership team base their decision-making on data that’s more representative of the district’s population, but it also provides them with language that promotes a sense of community ownership over their decisions. “The smartest person in the room—is the room,” says Case. “And you need a way to get the feedback that allows you to leverage the knowledge in the room. The tool to do that is ThoughtExchange.” Read the full story → Plan to enhance and broaden access to community feedback Building on your community engagement strategy, an engagement plan that reimagines how your district connects with its community is essential for any initiative’s success. Partner with your community decision-making—and meet them where they are. [INSET] “The signs of authentic engagement: The community is not seen as the problem but as a partner in defining the problem.” — The Superintendent’s Fieldbook A community engagement plan outlines outreach and public participation activities, including assigned roles and timelines for new or reoccurring projects that will impact the community. Where your community engagement strategy explains why your district will need specific resources and will take specific actions, your plan will outline the steps to achieve the strategy. Consider your project’s purpose and objectives, conduct a community analysis, decide on engagement methods, and work through potential risks and challenges. Armed with your step-by-step plan, you’ll be ready to tackle your district’s most pressing issues—and succeed. As mentioned earlier, some common challenges to successful community engagement include a lack of trust in leadership, inaccessible tech, and a lack of awareness about projects. To mitigate these, listen to your community and act on their insights—a well-thought-out community engagement plan provides the key. Create a successful community engagement plan Whatever issue you’re addressing—from capacity building to enhancing relationships—you’ll need your community’s input to succeed. While they’ll help define your plan’s objectives and purpose by telling you what they want and need, they’ll also determine its success by providing support throughout the process. Tip: Consult your people before, during, and after launching your project for optimal results. [INSET] “We’ve used ThoughtExchange for more than 5 years now, and for us, it’s more than a survey tool. ThoughtExchange is a huge asset and a fuel for conversations within our district leadership as we continuously strategize how best to serve our students.” – Alia Wilson, Communications Coordinator, Sunnyvale School District 8 things your community engagement plan needs Although your plans will vary based on the project or initiative, consider adding these key components: What to include Why it matters How to do it better Project background info and historical context Include project context and previous, relevant community engagement learnings. You might already have the information you’re after. If so, build on that to ensure you’re not doing the work twice. Consider using software that allows you to build qualitative data sets and compare engagement results before, during, and after a project. Defined purpose and objectives Why are you engaging the community, and what do you hope to achieve? This will determine your engagement methods, help evaluate your engagement activities, and measure success. Determine whether you need a quantitative data tool, such as a survey, whether your plan will benefit from qualitative community members' insights, or both. Incorporating staff, student, and parent voices can ensure that your plan and leadership are highly supported by your community partners. Community analysis Who’s invested in this project, and who will it impact? Also, how engaged are they, and what will they contribute? Understanding your community helps determine the appropriate engagement methods. Consider a community engagement software that allows you to gather quantitative data on your audience with survey questions while also gathering qualitative data. Discover how engaged they are and ask them how they want to engage. This way, you can tailor communications according to their individual engagement level and preference. Engagement methods What are the most appropriate engagement methods, and how will you ensure you’re engaging a diverse range of community members? Standard methods are: Surveys Meetings Town halls Methods requiring travel or mobility, time off work, English fluency, and comfort with public speaking may limit the perspectives you capture. An easy-to-use digital survey and engagement platform can increase community participation over standard methods. Ensure it includes Survey and Exchange capabilities. It should also be multilingual and accessible on any device, anytime. Anonymous participation and the ability to reflect on each other’s input are also key to mitigating bias. This will allow you to capture more voices and create fairer, more representative conversations. Key messages and communication strategy What will you tell your community about your project and consultation activities? Carefully consider your key messages and communication activities. Lack of/unclear communication can be a major barrier to your plan’s success. Communicate early and often about your intentions and what your community can expect. Let them know their insights have an impact. Then follow up to show how the plan leverages their insights. This creates support and buy-in for your plan. Risks, challenges, and solutions What are the potential risks, their impacts, and how likely are they to occur? Predicting risks will help you come up with solutions. Common challenges include a lack of trust in leadership, inaccessible tech, and a lack of awareness. Listen to your community Get the right tech Communicate early and often Feedback collection and integration How will you collect and integrate feedback from all engagement methods? Integrating broad community insights makes a stronger, more successful plan. While engaging with your community, continually evaluate outcomes. Adjust and improve efforts as needed. Listen to your community and act on their insights. Conduct regular check-ins to determine if: You’re reaching the intended audience The data is actionable The engagement level is high Evaluation Did you meet your plan’s engagement purpose and objectives? What worked well, and what learnings can you apply to your next community project? Be ready to reassess and pivot with your community’s support to help your current and future plans succeed. Check in with your community after you’ve implemented the plan, and they’ve had time to assess the impact. Based on their feedback, make appropriate changes. Use community engagement software that lets you include 10-10,000+ people, depending on your needs. [INSET] “We morphed a very narrow, specific goal into something that was more holistic and focused on the whole child. Having the support of parents through the Exchange was really helpful in getting us there.” — Catherine Carbone-Rogers, Former Chief Communications Officer, Highline Public Schools Prioritize efficiency and effectiveness in engagement software Tapping into your community’s voice is a big win for any education leader. But whether you’re building your strategy or nailing down your plan, the right tech will make things easier. Comprehensive survey and engagement software gets you from insights to action faster, engaging thousands of community members while tackling your district’s most critical issues. Why you need the right software Engagement software streamlines your engagement initiatives and allows you to gather feedback and get alignment from tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people in just days. It also facilitates candid, collaborative community conversations that help districts realize their goals by increasing the participants’ trust, buy-in, and ownership of district decisions. The right engagement software empowers you to make more effective decisions using your community’s insights, support, and language. With so much riding on community support for district projects and funding, leaders need a platform that will get them better participation and more nuanced data. Community engagement software lets you get input from hundreds or thousands of people. Old school vs next-gen engagement Traditional community engagement cascades information out and survey data in, but these methods often fail to meaningfully discuss the issues that affect us all. This is because it can feel impossible to scale a discussion across thousands of community members, and too unstructured to create actionable insights. A next-gen survey and engagement platform like ThoughtExchange will allow you to integrate your strategy with your community and take decisive, supported action in less time. By basing engagement on community discussions—like scaled focus groups—an Exchange allows you to gather diverse perspectives, and understand why certain issues are important to your district and how different community members experience them. It also provides planning, scheduling, and analysis tools to help you quickly set strategy and monitor execution. [INSET] “ThoughtExchange takes the heart and soul of qualitative research—the data analysis and theming process—and drastically reduces the time that's spent on it. We're saving weeks and weeks of work just because we have this platform.” — Michael Gomez, Ed.D., District Coordinator of Assessment, Accountability, and New Teacher Induction for SVUSD Choosing the right engagement software Not all engagement platforms are created equal. There are many options, such as online polls, virtual meetings, town halls, surveys, and more. Consider these pros and cons before committing to one. Types of community engagement software—pros and cons Pros Cons Online polls Easy to set up Easy to participate in Quick answers to simple questions Engages large groups Surface-level data—no insight into why participants respond a certain way Answers are pre-selected and subject to bias Can’t measure response intensity or sentiment Virtual meetings Free for up to 100 participants Open forum for discussion (particularly for smaller groups) Can’t be scaled and still maintain quality of conversation Zoom fatigue Paid plans for over 100 participants Requires note-taking and recording for later analysis Requires time off work or parenting to participate Freeware surveys, e.g., SurveyMonkey Easy to set up Easy to participate in Quick answers to simple questions Engages large groups Offers quantitative and qualitative question options Surface-level data—no insight into why participants respond a certain way Answers to close-ended questions are pre-selected and subject to bias Answers to open-ended questions must be manually analyzed No transparency for participants into how others in the community have answered and why Usually just the first step in engagement, followed by weeks of focus groups and data analysis Paid survey tools (ie. Panorama or Qualtrics) Panorama surveys provide research-backed, standardized surveys, primarily focused on quantitative data. Panorama is geared towards districts with dedicated research teams. Qualtrics surveys provide a robust platform for complex surveys and analysis. Qualtrics is geared towards districts with research experts. Panorama’s rigid templates allow critical issues to remain hidden. Panorama visualizes your data but doesn’t interpret it. Users must read open-ended responsesmanually. Panorama’s playbooks suggest generic actions based only on scores, ignoring the bigger picture. Qualtrics was built for large enterprises, not K12. Its complexity makes it difficult to use without technical training. Qualtrics has superfluous features and charges for the number of responses received. ThoughtExchange: survey and engagement platform Easy to set up and distribute Easy to participate in from any device at any time Scales easily from 10 to 10,000+ participants Offers quantitative survey technology and qualitative capabilities, with surveys, Exchanges, and Interview AI-powered data analysis using Advisor and Article is done in minutes or hours instead of weeks Ask one open-ended question to get thousands of quality responses Access people’s real thoughts and insights Built-in AI analytics provide rich data as the conversation unfolds Richer,deeper qualitative data analysis Cross-analysis of quantitative survey data and qualitative Exchange data Easy-to-use and accessible to users of all skill sets Expert support Easy to export reports, presentations, and HTML pages for sharing results with participants and leadership Leaders can’t control participant responses Requires trust and transparency from leaders Costs are up front, but saves time and money in the long run Averages an 85% survey completion rate, more than double the online survey rate of 36% Customers see an average 25-30% savings on engagement when switching to ThoughtExchange from traditional survey tools NPS* of 65 for K-12, compared to the SAAS industry average of 40 A comprehensive engagement initiative requires comprehensive software. Education leaders need tools and platforms to help them foster a mutually beneficial relationship with their community. Next, we’ll look at how others are using next-gen engagement software in their districts. Hearing more perspectives through better engagement As a company that works with education leaders across North America, we often hear that the current political climate is leading to misinformation and conflict regarding instructional materials and practices. Unfortunately, many traditional engagement methods exacerbate polarization in communities. [INSET] “Had we engaged the community differently, we likely would have only experienced majority thinking and in a very limited way.” Dr. Kevin McGowan, winner of National Superintendent of the Year 2023, and Superintendent at Brighton Central School District Here are some of the ways traditional engagement methods exclude community members: Climate surveys: Often pages long, climate surveys require time to fill out and often lead to “survey exhaustion.” They usually ask about leader-prioritized issues but don’t allow community members to share their own concerns or questions. If they do, their comments are only shared with leadership and not with other participants. Certain community members need translation services. Data analysis can take weeks. Townhalls and meetings: Require time off work or free time and sometimes travel. Attendees must be willing to speak publicly and be fluent in the predominant language if a translator is not available. These engagements can be dominated by people with special interests who push their agenda. Data analysis can take weeks. Focus groups: Like town halls and meetings, attendance requires time off work or free time and sometimes travel. Attendees must be willing to speak publicly and be fluent in the predominant language if no translator is available. Data analysis can take weeks. [INSET] “Previously, we’ve looked at language as a barrier to participation, but that was blown out of the water by using ThoughtExchange to engage different groups and educational partners in our district.” — Michael Gomez, Ed.D., District Coordinator of Assessment, Accountability, and New Teacher Induction for SVUSD Avoiding climate survey bottlenecks Many issues can hinder your engagement efforts. Ensuring your climate surveys aren’t creating a bottleneck is a great place to start. If you’re using a traditional survey method, it may be stalling momentum due to time-consuming manual data analysis and unclear next steps. A platform like ThoughtExchange with qualitative and quantitative data capabilities, instant AI analysis, and actionable insights, helps you act quickly and confidently. You’ll save time and get deeper insights. Ensuring representative community engagement If your community engagement methods don’t prioritize inclusivity and fair representation of perspectives and experiences, the resulting decisions will increase polarization. To avoid this, you engagement methods and software should include the following: Qualitative and quantitative data-gathering: Open-ended questions with participant ratings help get the most accurate qualitative data from the group. Survey questions can access quick data and also be cross-analyzed with qualitative data. Topic theming: A good Themes tool helps you understand qualitative data through a quantitative lens. It should quickly sort participant responses by keyword or sentiment, and offer both manual and AI theming tools. Areas of agreement: Identifies both differences and common ground among polarized groups so you base your decisions on data everyone supports. Here’s how three communications leaders engaged their communities more effectively by leveraging these features. Burlington Public Schools gets better, faster climate survey data With over 3,500 students and 57 spoken languages Burlington Public Schools needed an effective way to gather in-depth, representative feedback through their annual school climate survey. Superintendent Eric Conti and Director of Mental Health Christine Conceison used ThoughtExchange to get high-quality, actionable data that represented their community’s varied perspectives. Unlike their previous platform, ThoughtExchange enabled Burlington to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. The platform's AI-powered analysis tools quickly provided the district with their community's priorities and values, allowing them to report results in days instead of weeks, facilitating quicker action, and fostering greater community trust and engagement. The platform's multilingual capabilities and focus on unbiased interactions further ensured that the feedback captured their diverse population. [INSET] “ThoughtExchange provides an anonymous way for people to really give us positive direction and share their values. Ultimately, that's what public schools do, right? We operationalize the values of the community. ThoughtExchange is a much better way to get people to communicate their values. I've been doing surveys for 25 years, and this platform is so much more than that.” –Eric Conti, Superintendent, Burlington Public Schools St. Charles CUSD 303 broadens engagement and builds alignment using Chief Communications Officer Scott Harvey needed a platform to scale St. Charles USD’s in-person listening sessions and ensure all voices were heard across their large district. ThoughtExchange facilitated digital conversations where participants could share, view, and rate thoughts anonymously— mirroring the interactive nature of their in-person gatherings but with broader reach. Exchanges complemented their in-person sessions, resulting in significant participation and rich qualitative and quantitative data. Key features like anonymized participation, real-time translation, and moderation tools fostered representative, respectful dialogue. ThoughtExchange streamlined data analysis compared to transcribing and theming handwritten notes from in-person meetings. The platform's speed, heatmaps, and reporting capabilities allowed the Communications Team to quickly identify key themes, understand varying perspectives, and transparently share findings with the community, closing the loop on their engagement plan. [INSET]“ThoughtExchange allows us to provide buy-in opportunities for individuals that have been sitting on the sidelines, feeling like their voice didn't matter. Now they have a more active role in the process and not only share their feedback, but also interact with the feedback from others.” –Scott Harvey, Chief Communications Officer, St. Charles CUSD How technology is shaping K-12 strategic planning Heather Daniel, Director of Communications and Policy at Edison Township Public Schools, uses AI tools to enhance community engagement and strategic planning in her district. Daniel emphasizes that AI enhances traditional engagement methods, making communication more accessible, inclusive, and responsive. She points to the successful implementation of multilingual AI chatbots and surveys, which have broken down language barriers in their diverse district, and AI-driven sentiment analysis, which provides real-time insights into stakeholder feedback, enabling quicker and more data-driven responses to community concerns. Daniel also advocates for AI in strategic planning due to its ability to provide real-time insights, predictive analytics, and automated data integration, leading to more dynamic and responsive planning processes. Tools like ThoughtExchange, with its AI-powered surveys and real-time engagement platforms, facilitate greater stakeholder input, remove barriers to participation, and objectively analyze feedback, ultimately improving the efficacy and accountability of strategic plan execution. Daniel advises other school districts considering AI to start with a clear purpose, prioritize stakeholder trust, and approach implementation as an ongoing, iterative process, emphasizing that AI should enhance, not replace, human connection and traditional engagement methods. [INSET] “ThoughtExchange has really been a game changer for engagement in my work. The platform gives participants an experience that deeply and predictively improves our questions for a more individual and responsive experience. This personalized engagement style allows for more quality responses, avoids any potential group polarization, and ensures we consider all our community voices in decisions.” —Heather Daniel, Director of Communications and Policy, Edison Township Public Schools, Edison NJ Using ThoughtExchange for climate surveys Today’s educational leaders strive to understand and enhance their communities so they can create an environment where their students thrive. Unlike climate survey tools such as Panorama or Qualtrics, ThoughtExchange provides leaders with nuanced qualitative and robust quantitative data with instant in-depth analysis, all in one platform. Most survey tools can tell you what your participants are concerned about but not why. ThoughtExchange’s suite of engagement tools ensure you get rich qualitative data from climate and staff surveys to deeply understand people’s priorities. More engagement less-less lift Using ThoughtExchange means districts no longer need to run complex strategic planning engagements with multiple tools. Instead, they can gather, analyze, visualize, and report on climate survey data all in one place. This means reduced analysis time, community-specific insights, and tailored next steps. Put money back into the classroom Many districts are paying high premiums to use multiple climate survey and data analysis tools. ThoughtExchange provides multiple quantitative and qualitative engagement methods and instant advanced data analysis, so districts can save money by consolidating their engagement tools. [INSET] “Prior to ThoughtExchange, when we would do community surveys, we had someone who would spend almost two months processing, analyzing, and charting the data. We’re saving weeks and weeks of work just because we have this platform.” –Michael Gomez, Former District Coordinator, Assessment, Accountability, & New Teacher Induction at Saddleback Valley Unified School District Engaging your community with ThoughtExchange Whatever challenges your district is facing, your community has the solution. With a robust community engagement strategy, an on-point plan, and the right survey and engagement platform, you can effectively engage your community to create positive change in your district. [INSET] “[Using ThoughtExchange] saves time and money. I know for a fact that ThoughtExchange has saved us months. If I had had to collect information and go back out and share it—the way ThoughtExchange dynamically takes all of that [input] and people can then rate it. That takes out a lot of steps.” — Chris Payne, Chief Communications Officer at Union Public Schools, OK ThoughtExchange is the leader in survey and engagement technology, bringing education leaders like you next-gen community engagement solutions.