Survey says: Residents, parents give EP Schools high marks

Eden Prairie Schools was the only school district in the state to receive higher favorable ratings post-pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels in recent surveys conducted by market research firm The Morris Leatherman Co.

Some highlights:

• 95% of the overall community and 97% of parents rated the school district as excellent or good.
• 61% of the community and 71% of parents said the district’s quality of education is better than it was three years ago.
• 91% of the community and 94% of parents said they trusted the district to do what’s right for children.
• 85% of the community and 89% of parents gave positive ratings to the quality of technology use in schools.
• 87% of the community and 88% of parents said that the district spends taxpayers’ money effectively.
• 90% of the community and 96% of parents said EP Schools provides good value for investment.

Presenting EP’s results to the school board at its workshop meeting Sept. 9, Peter Leatherman, CEO of Morris Leatherman, said EP’s favorability rankings were remarkable at a time when most Minnesota districts are seeing a 10% average drop in these numbers.

Minneapolis-based Morris Leatherman has conducted annual community and statewide educational surveys for a number of years, which enabled it to interpret EP’s results in the context of other districts in the metro and state.

Post-pandemic, across the state, communities have concerns about the overall quality of education, he said, but EP Schools has “cut the Gordian knot in public perception and parents’ perceptions on what’s happening in the schools.”

Calling EP “the outlier in the entire state over the last four years,” he said, “You really have done something that we haven’t seen any other school district do, and that is actually have higher favorable ratings post-pandemic than before the pandemic.”

Leatherman said that in 2020, the pandemic kicked off a time of unprecedented separation between schools and communities across the state. He said districts were still recovering from the combined effects of lockdowns, COVID-19-related issues, social unrest, a presidential election and high levels of uncertainty about local government.

He noted that parents, many of whom volunteer in the schools in addition to sending their children there, overall re-engaged post-pandemic at a much higher rate than non-parents.

Leatherman said he believes one reason for EP Schools’ high numbers, especially in the non-parent group compared to other districts, is its strong community education programs, as well as the marketing and outreach efforts around the school district’s ongoing 100th anniversary celebration.

Josh Swanson, EP Schools’ superintendent, credited the district’s community partnerships through its Pathways and Capstones programs for a high level of community connection, based on direct feedback received.

Swanson said the annual Morris Leatherman survey is valuable because it allows the district to randomly sample the entire community as opposed to just hearing the opinions of a more skewed segment. “As we think about decision making, this gives us true reflection of where the community is,” he said.

Aaron Casper, EP school board’s chair, praised the superintendent, cabinet members past and present, the communications team and staff across the board for creating an environment where these results were possible. “It really takes a collaborative approach,” he said.

Casper also said he wanted the public to know that the board wants to hear from them, and that board members will listen respectfully, discuss and ask internal questions and respond. “And if we can get better, we’re going to get better,” he said. “Just because our numbers are off the charts doesn’t mean that we can’t continue to improve.”

Because Leatherman’s presentation was given at a school board workshop, the district did not record it (only monthly business meetings are typically recorded). As of press time, the district did not have the full report available to the public on its website. Anyone interested in more details can contact the district directly.

Who took the survey?

Between June 19 and July 11, Morris Leatherman spoke for 11 minutes on average with 400 randomly selected residents across the community who have lived in the city for an average of 15 years. There was a margin of error of plus or minus 5%.

In that overall sample group of 400, 32% or 128 people, had children attending Eden Prairie schools. In addition to the initial overall random sample, a separate 400-person, parent-only sample was created by combining those 128 parents with an additional 262 new EP Schools parents.

Key findings on school quality

Quality of education

In the overall resident sample, 62% rated the quality of education in EP Schools as excellent and 33% as good, for a total 95% favorability rating. Although this was one point lower than the 96% who rated the schools excellent or good in 2023, the percentage who rated the district excellent jumped 15 points from 47%.

In the parent-only group, 66% rated the quality of education in EP Schools as excellent and 31% good, for a 97% favorability rating. This was slightly down from 99% in 2023; a parent-specific breakdown of excellent versus good ratings from that year was not provided.

Quality of education compared to three years ago

The district’s quality of education was largely perceived as better compared to three years ago. In the overall sample, 61% indicated improvement, 32% said it was about the same, and 4% said it was worse. In the parent sample, 71% indicated improvement, 26% said about the same, and 2% said it was worse.

Are graduates prepared for success?

Of the 21% of respondents who said they had graduated from EP Schools, 99% said they were prepared for success after graduation. Of the 30% who said they had children who had graduated from EP Schools, 97% of those said they were prepared for success after graduation.

Perceptions about EP Schools

How would you describe EP Schools?

When asked an open-ended question about what words came to mind when they thought of EP Schools, the top answers focused on good teachers, strong academics and high achievement statistics.

Are EP Schools moving in the right direction?

Overall, 77% (vs. state norm of 68%) of residents and parents said they believed the district was moving in the right direction.

Trust

91% of the community and 94% of parents said they trusted the district to do what’s right for children.

Satisfaction with responsiveness

When asked how they felt about the response if they had contacted the district to ask an important question, 93% of the community and 96% of parents indicated they were satisfied.

Reputation, pride, and connectedness

This set of questions was framed by stating that the goal of the school district’s 100th anniversary celebration was to elevate the reputation of EP Schools among students, family, staff and the community by fostering an ongoing sense of pride and celebrating success, to increase stakeholder engagement and improve connections with the district and its schools.

Then respondents were asked to compare to last year the district’s reputation, their personal sense of pride and whether they felt connected.

Reputation

Thirty-seven percent of the community and 41% of parents said the district’s reputation had improved over the past year, and 53% of both groups said it had stayed the same.

Sense of pride

Thirty-two percent of the community and 38% of parents said they had an increased sense of pride in the district compared to one year ago, and 59% of both groups said it had stayed the same.

Feeling of connectedness

Twenty percent of the community and 31% of parents said they had an increased sense of connection to the district compared to one year ago, while most said it stayed the same.

Opinion of 100th anniversary celebration

Respondents were also asked if they had participated in at least one event related to the 100th anniversary celebration. Of the 31% in the overall community pool who said yes, 98% reported a favorable experience. Of the 55% of parents who participated, 95% reported a favorable experience.

Financial management

Does the district spend taxpayers’ money effectively?

Overall, 87% (vs. state norm of 67%) indicated they believed the district spends taxpayers’ money effectively. Among parents, this number was 88%.

Comparative tax climate

Of overall respondents, 49% said EP Schools taxes were comparatively high, and 45% of parents said the same. Forty-six percent of both groups said they were about average.

Value for money

Of overall respondents, 90% said EP Schools were a good value for the investment, and among parents, 96% felt they were a good value.

Financial management

The district’s financial management was rated positively by 77% of residents and 90% of parents. Only 37% said the district was adequately funded, a 5% increase from 2023.

Decision-making

Decision-making process

In the combined survey, 87% of residents and 90% of parents rated the district favorably for its decision-making process.

Communications about district decision-making

Seventy-four percent of residents said they feel very or somewhat informed, which is about 10 points higher than the state norm. Among parents, 88% said they felt very or somewhat informed, 8 points higher than the state norm.

Parental priorities

Hands-on learning and writing were named as the top priorities for parents as most important to their child’s success. This dovetailed with the district’s performance in these areas, with hands-on learning and writing receiving the highest ratings. Public speaking, small class sizes, outdoor learning and internship-style classes were also named as priorities.

Technology and artificial intelligence

Technology use

Regarding the district’s focus on technology use and artificial intelligence (AI), 85% of the community and 89% of parents gave positive ratings to the quality of technology use in schools.

Overall, 68% of the community said students use about the right amount of technology in school, with 17% saying students use too much technology and 11% not enough. Parents showed similar results, with 68% agreeing it was the right amount, 14% too much and 15% not enough.

“You kind of have the perfect balance here on the amount of time students use technology,” Leatherman said, noting that this was the inverse of statewide results over the past couple years, where more than twice as many people in other districts said their students used too much technology.

Leatherman said that while it was not provided in the final report to EP Schools, his firm would be able to further break this down by whether they were elementary, middle or high school.

AI use

This was Morris Leatherman’s first time asking residents in a school district about AI usage – 54% of the Eden Prairie community said it was about right, 21% indicated they thought the district was adopting the use of it too quickly, and 8% said it was too slow. Among parents, 60% said it was about right,19% too fast and 10% too slow.