Newton Public Schools’ New Superintendent Charts a Course Forward With Trust
Key Takeaways:
From manual to instantaneous:
Informed entry plan:
Focus on common ground:
Located just outside Boston, Massachusetts, Newton Public Schools serves 11,800 students across 26 schools. This large, diverse district provides pre-kindergarten through postgraduate programs.
When Anna Nolan first became Superintendent, the district was grappling with significant challenges, including strained community relations and the impacts of a long, difficult COVID-19 pandemic response.
To understand her new community’s needs and perspectives, create an entry plan, and chart a collaborative path forward, Nolan turned to the ThoughtExchange survey and engagement platform.
A district in transition facing trust deficits
In her new role, Nolan faced complex challenges. During the pandemic, the district had been remote for nine months longer than any other in Massachusetts due to inadequate one-to-one technology and distance learning infrastructure.
This extended remote learning period—paired with a strained relationship with the teachers' union and an increasing public mistrust in the quality of education—had created friction between the administration and the community. A contentious teacher contract negotiation ending in a drawn-out strike added to a tense first year.
Nolan shares, “The relationship was fraught way before I got here, and it was a very trust-lacking situation from all the partners in the community." She recognized the urgent need to rebuild trust and understand the community's priorities, and knew a robust, inclusive engagement strategy was key.
Fostering dialogue and uncovering shared understanding
Having used ThoughtExchange in a neighboring district, Nolan knew the comprehensive platform could tackle Newton’s existing divides. However, the ongoing labor dispute meant she couldn’t directly engage teachers.
Instead, Nolan focused on students and the broader community. She launched an Exchange, asking: "What should we keep, change, or revise about the Newton Public Schools?"
To maximize reach and foster personal connection, Nolan attended 59 "barbecue-type events" across the city, using a ThoughtExchange QR code on her phone to enable on-the-spot participation. “The coming together was groundbreaking for the city,” Nolan emphasizes, “It was a great trust-builder.” And by leveraging ThoughtExchange’s easy and mobile-accessible platform at these events, Nolan knew that beyond fostering relationships, she was gathering vital insights into her new community’s needs and perspectives.
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Multi-faceted approach yields significant results
1. Engaging a diverse community: Nolan collected over 2,000 responses from the community alone. The in-person events allowed Nolan to connect with parents, seniors, and even families who had opted for private schooling during the pandemic. This, combined with the online engagement, ensured a more representative understanding of community sentiments.
Nolan explains that Newton’s community is home to some very wealthy and influential families, and that hearing from the quiet majority was her top priority. “We're trying to get a wide swath of information because we're everybody's public school,” she shares. “And ThoughtExchange helps me get to the voice of our constituency—not just the people who are always on Facebook and always in my email. The platform isn’t about you screaming the loudest or voting the most."
2. Mitigating bias and building trust: Nolan presented her entry plan in two parts, highlighting ThoughtExchange’s AI-generated themes with her own analysis. This transparent approach helped mitigate concerns about individual bias while demonstrating a commitment to the community's voice.
“ThoughtExchange allows me to focus on the public, rather than the extreme amount of time it used to take me to tabulate survey results and then theme the data. ThoughtExchange has always been on the leading edge of making that process just instantaneous and so helpful—so I can focus on the in-person part of my job.”
3. Identifying common ground: ThoughtExchange’s Common Ground and Differences report was especially valuable in this highly polarized community. The report identified core values that resonated across different viewpoints, such as adaptability and seeking diverse perspectives. This helped define the district's "Portrait of a Learner" competencies, providing a unified vision for the future.
4. Efficiently collecting and analyzing data: ThoughtExchange's AI-powered platform instantly analyzed the qualitative data, saving Nolan an estimated 10 hours per survey in manual tabulation and theming. This allowed her to focus on interpreting the insights and developing her entry plan.
Nolan shares, "I got 2,000 different responses from the community. I would have had to read each of those ideas, highlight them in different colors, count them up, and type them up. It would have easily been 10 hours per survey, and then writing recommendations summarizing those themes. That's another large portion of analytical work you would have to do."
A powerful engine for progress
For Superintendent Anna Nolan, ThoughtExchange was more than just an engagement platform; it was fundamental to her efforts to understand, connect with, and lead the Newton Public Schools forward.
Nolan elaborates, "ThoughtExchange was the engine on the car that I built. It helped me move fast and focus on the logistics of getting the information and knowing my district, what to do with it, and how to stay connected with my constituents. It was the first time I felt I wasn't held back by this big stack of papers or things I should have done or looked at. I got to look at it all because I had this high-powered engine behind me."
In a district facing complex challenges and struggling to gain trust, ThoughtExchange facilitated meaningful dialogue, uncovered crucial insights, and helped to identify common ground.
By providing an efficient, transparent, and inclusive way to gather and analyze community feedback—while saving the district time and money—ThoughtExchange empowered Nolan to build trust in a polarized district, inform her entry plan, and ultimately chart a collaborative course for the future of Newton Public Schools.
