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District presents first ThoughtExchange: more than 1,000 participants; special education and communication top themes
Summary
District officials presented results of the first district‑wide ThoughtExchange: more than 1,000 participants produced 651 unique thoughts and 22,252 peer ratings. Top themes included special education, communication, curriculum and student engagement; district leaders plan follow‑up exchanges and administrator training on the tool.
Dr. Ward presented results of the North Syracuse Central School Districts first districtwide ThoughtExchange, saying the project drew more than 1,000 participants and generated 651 unique thoughts and 22,252 peer ratings.
"We had over a thousand participants, in this, thought exchange. We had 651 unique thoughts that were submitted," Dr. Ward said. The tool asked one open‑ended question: "What is one change or improvement initiative that you believe would have the greatest impact on our school community?" Responses were rated by participants on a 1–5 scale.
District staff reported participant breakdowns the board was shown: 41% parents or guardians, 42% teachers or instructional staff, 18% students and 10% graduates, with additional respondent categories noted. The analysis surfaced top themes: curriculum, student engagement and teaching experiences among instructional staff; home‑school connection and education quality among parents; and student satisfaction and day‑to‑day engagement among students. Special education and communication emerged prominently in a Wordle graphic shown to the board.
Dr. Ward described next steps: deeper analysis with the administrative team, additional ThoughtExchange surveys targeted to specific topics, and training for building administrators. She said the district will hold three days of professional development for administrators over the summer that will include an afternoon on how to use ThoughtExchange and that the district will equip administrators to use the tool at the building level.
Board members acknowledged the data and asked about limitations. Board member Xavier noted that topics such as race, equity and inclusion might not surface in a single open‑ended prompt unless the district specifically asks about them and urged the board to pursue additional questions to capture those issues. Dr. Ward agreed that question design matters and said the district will use ThoughtExchange support (a named contact, Roop) and the tools question bank to craft future prompts.
District staff said the ThoughtExchange results are anonymous, and the district said it will continue to use the tool for targeted outreach and to report results publicly. The presentation drew no formal vote; it was informational and intended to guide future community engagement and administrative training plans.
