Hold listening sessions in accessible locations where staff simply listen to educational partners¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Listening sessions are "structured opportunities for educational partners to share their own experiences and insights regarding school and district systems." Staff reach out to partners, provide space, and "the role of staff here is to simply listen." Sessions can be one-on-one or in groups, with questions specific or broad, and can help interpret initial data by going beyond the numbers.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Sessions should be located in an easily accessible location and scheduled according to educational partners' availability

Constraints¶

• Described as an open-ended process absent of judgment, suited to connection-building rather than targeted data collection

Target Learners¶

• Students, families, staff, and community members in schools and districts

Target Learning Goals¶

• Understanding partner experiences and viewpoints
• building authentic connections
• interpreting survey and dashboard data in context

Affordances¶

• Five Considerations Engaging Educational Partners

Related Strategies¶

• Conduct focus groups to hear firsthand from multiple partners and build shared understanding beyond the numbers
• Conduct one-on-one empathy interviews with open-ended questions to uncover root causes of system challenges
• Use the Start, Stop, Continue process to surface and act on promising practices with educational partners
• Discovery-phase data collection: surveys, listening sessions, and project inventories to map the current system

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Ojetunde, T., & Chavez, A. (2024). Centering the experiences and perspectives of educational partners: Five considerations for schools and districts. California Center for School Climate at WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED655789