Irvine USD: Elevating Climate Surveys, Engagement, and K-12 Education
Key Takeaways:
Higher Participation:
Real-time data:
Instant action:
Irvine Unified School District: A model of engagement
Irvine Unified School District (IUSD) serves the city of Irvine, California, and is home to a 39,000-strong student body. IUSD is deeply committed to its community and continuously seeks innovative ways to connect with and understand its needs.
Dr. Tammy Blakely, IUSD’s Executive Director of Student Support Services, is in her 8th year at the district. “It’s an amazing district, and very diverse—we have about 74 different spoken languages,” she shares, “and many nationally ranked programs."
For the district’s climate survey, Dr. Blakely wanted a better understanding of the IUSD community and its individual school sites—and a faster turnaround for its climate survey data. Disappointed with the climate survey tool the district had used for years, she decided to try ThoughtExchange.
Traditional survey methods fall short
Previously, IUSD relied on a more traditional survey platform for its climate surveys. However, their existing tool hindered the district's ability to act swiftly and demonstrate responsiveness.
When analyzing data, the district waited months for insights—up to 12 weeks in some cases. “By the time we received data, the school year had basically ended,” says Dr. Blakely. “And the feedback from the principals was that it was no longer useful.”
This data lag also fueled community frustration as they had to wait for the district’s response to their feedback “Both the community and staff were saying, ‘We want to see where our voices are. We want to know you're listening to us and that you are doing something based on what you hear," she explains.
ThoughtExchange: An engagement paradigm shift
Recognizing the need for a more dynamic and responsive engagement platform, IUSD decided to use ThoughtExchange for its district-wide climate surveys. Gaining real-time data access was a pivotal factor. “We knew the possibilities with ThoughtExchange, and we were having a positive experience with it," says Dr. Blakely.
Beyond the cutting-edge technology, IUSD valued ThoughtExchange's collaborative partnership. IUSD had a complex survey that aimed to collect longitudinal data for all of its school sites and for the district as a whole—but Dr. Blakely’s team was also looking for creativity in problem solving. The ThoughtExchange team supported IUSD in both.
“The ThoughtExchange team helped us figure out what's important, and what we were going to do about it—with no preconceived ideas about how to make that happen, just the willingness to listen and to respond in different ways,” she explains. “What we most appreciated was the thought partnership.”
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Real-time insights, real-world impact
Using ThoughtExchange significantly improved IUSD’s climate survey process. Participation soared—more than 35,000 people participated in three surveys for staff, students, and parents, with an average completion rate of 80%. The parent survey was conducted in 24 languages with simultaneous translation, so the district could be confident that they were hearing from a wide range of their families.
With their previous survey tool, IUSD would have been waiting for months for the results—and the three ThoughtExchange surveys collected more than 29,000 comment box responses. But this time, more than 50 of IUSD’s administrators were able to see their participation rates, data summaries, and in-depth analysis in real time. “It's just night and day,” Dr. Blakely exclaims.
“They could take that data to their school site councils, to their leadership teams, and make it immediately useful,” says Dr. Blakely. “ThoughtExchange allows them to focus sooner; rather than having to dig through the data, it’s readily available to them."
AI tools provide immediate insights
ThoughtExchange’s AI was transformational in IUSD’s climate survey process, with the Article and Advisor analysis tools providing the district with immediate data insights.
Article got the most positive feedback from school administrators, who loved having access to an instant overview of the qualitative feedback.
Article provides a summary, identifies common ground between disagreeing groups, surfaces themes, and provides customizable talking points. With this information—and by leveraging Advisor’s conversational in-depth analysis—school administrators integrated the feedback into their school plans for student achievement soon after the survey closed.
"It is exceptionally reliable. You kind of feel like it’s a partner with you. It's not going to do all of the work, but it provides that foundation. We can then layer school or district culture and practice on top of the AI’s insights, and refine and adjust as we need to."
Real-time participation—tailored outreach
Access to real-time results was also a game-changer for Dr. Blakely's team. In previous years, all of their participation data was hidden for weeks or even months. With ThoughtExchange, they could assess participation as it happened.
Both the district’s communications team and the individual school sites could monitor participation in real time and tailor their outreach efforts. "We were able to interact with the data in real time to see what was working and what wasn't and make adjustments to increase those rates," Dr. Blakely explains.
For example, at the district level, the communications department could assess the impact of their social media campaigns, directly correlating their posts with increased participation. At the school level, administrators could monitor groups with less participation who needed outreach, ensuring they were getting the representative data they needed.
Dr. Blakely attributes IUSD's high climate survey engagement directly to ThoughtExchange: “We've dug into the reasons behind our high participation this year, and we truly believe it's because we had that real-time access to data.”
ThoughtExchange: The clear choice for K-12 engagement
IUSD's climate survey experience highlights why ThoughtExchange is the best choice for K-12 engagement. The platform's ability to foster better participation, deliver real-time data, and provide actionable analytics empowers districts to truly understand and respond to their communities' needs.
“What ThoughtExchange has brought to Irvine Unified is the ability to have a climate survey that is timely,” Dr. Blakely shares. “A process where we have real-time access to data and the ability to use analysis to help us move our instructional programs forward.”
"There are two high-level outcomes from using ThoughtExchange: not only does the district have access to data to decide how we're going to be moving district priorities forward, but our school sites now have the ability to assess their performance, the needs of their students, staff, and parents all in real time—and then make more informed decisions based on the data.”
“My best recommendation to other district teams is to lean in, stay curious, and try ThoughtExchange. I haven't seen anybody who's been disappointed when they've tried it."
