College Station ISD adopts ThoughtExchange platform to expand stakeholder feedback
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Summary
District staff presented a new partnership with ThoughtExchange to collect staff, parent and student feedback through open-ended exchanges and AI summaries; staff survey pilot ran Nov. 3–17 with about 680 starts and roughly 400 completions. Trustees pressed for privacy, participation limits and data-validation safeguards.
District officials said the school district has entered into a partnership with ThoughtExchange to gather stakeholder feedback and inform decisions on attendance, calendars and program planning.
"We have entered into a contract a partnership with a company by the name of Thought Exchange," said the district presenter, who described the platform’s two primary functions: classic surveys and open-ended “exchanges” where participants rate other responses. He said the district launched a staff success survey Nov. 3–17 and is reviewing reports with the vendor.
The presenter described ThoughtExchange’s back-end features, including localized AI summaries of responses and tools to flag personal or sensitive comments. He said the district can run anonymous surveys or connect identities, and that for the initial staff survey the district chose an open link to encourage participation while avoiding the perception that responses were tied to personal email addresses. "We are around 680 total respondents, which means they started the survey. We were close to 400 who completed," he said.
Trustees asked how the district will protect privacy and guard against repeat or non-staff submissions. One trustee pressed whether an open link could be forwarded and skew results; staff acknowledged that an open link could be shared and said they will review responses for anomalies and consider connecting district email accounts in other use cases. The presenter said ThoughtExchange applies FERPA and student-privacy safeguards and that administrators can remove or hide overly specific posts.
Board members also asked about frequency and customization of surveys; the presenter said the district can create its own questions, use templates from ThoughtExchange specialists, and expand exchanges beyond once-a-semester surveys to topical follow-ups.
The district plans to publish district-wide, aggregated reports and to use findings to develop targeted action items. Staff said they had signed a two-year contract to give the platform time to show impact and to support multiple campaigns, including attendance and exit-interview pilots slated for the spring.
Next steps: staff will continue analyzing the staff survey results with the vendor, develop rollout plans for parents and students, and report back to the board with recommendations and any proposed controls for limiting repeat or non-eligible responses.