Stakeholder Surveys
Parents, Students, and Staff
by Tom Mulligan
March 25, 2008
RivertonSchool DistrictListens to Stakeholders . . . . .
I have stated in earlier articles that the Riverton School District continues to implement the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. The Baldrige Criteria was initiated by the federal government many years ago in an attempt to foster excellence in the business community across the United States. After years of success in that sector, the criteria were adapted for use in schools, health care, and government. Based on research from “excellent” (best in class) organizations in each field, the Baldrige Criteria defines those processes, practices, programs, etc. that consistently exist in those excellent organizations.
One area in the criteria that has begun to make a substantial impact on the Riverton School District is the district’s commitment to “listening” to stakeholder requirements and ascertaining stakeholder satisfaction. The term “stakeholders” refers to the different groups that work with and within the school district. Examples of stakeholder groups are students, staff, parents, non-parent tax payers, business partners, etc. “Requirements” refer to what stakeholders want (expectations) from certain aspects of the school district. For example, when looking at the school district website, Board members may want (requirements) Updated and Consistent Information. Students may want Consistent Access to Homework. Parents may want Consistent Access to Students’ Grades. Non-parent taxpayers may want information related to the District Tax Levy. In many cases, the different stakeholder groups may have different requirements (as is the case in the example of the district website). For the district to meet stakeholder needs, the district must take these requirements into consideration when designing and improving the district website. This holds true with every aspect of the school district. Once the requirements are determined and the aspect of the school district is designed to meet those requirements, the district must then conduct satisfaction surveys of the various stakeholder groups to see if the district is meeting the stakeholder group’s requirements. In other words, the district must ask Board members whether they feel the website provides Updated and Consistent Information; students whether or not the website provides Consistent Access to Homework; parents whether or not the website provides Consistent Access to Students’ Grades, etc.
The district began conducting stakeholder surveys last year and will continue again this year. This year the district is scheduled to conduct requirements and satisfaction surveys for parents, students, teachers, support staff, and Board members. The district plans to expand this to non-parent taxpayers and business partners next year. The district puts a high priority on the information it gets from the stakeholder surveys. The leaders in the school district absolutely believe that the school system is here to serve the learning community, and in order to do that; the district must get consistent feedback from stakeholder groups on how the district can better serve their needs. If you are asked to complete a survey, please take the time to do so. I can assure you that the feedback is taken very seriously and is used to improve programs for our students.
Once requirements are determined, it is then important to determine Board member satisfaction relative to those requirements. In other words, if a Board member wants Updated and Consistent Information from their school website, it will be important to survey Board members as to whether or not they feel that the current school website provides Updated and Consistent Information. If there is a gap between requirements and satisfaction, then the process needs to be revised and improved to meet Board members’ expectations.
