What is a ThoughtExchange?

An exchange is a special and unique two-way process to bring people together on important topics, which replaces the methods used in traditional surveys with a naturally collaborative platform. It can turn everyday challenges into opportunities for engagement and growth.

Participants are asked to share their ideas in response to an open-ended question. All ideas are shared confidentially (click here for more information). Once participants have shared their own ideas, they are asked to rate the thoughts that others have provided on a scale of one to five stars based on how much they agree with the idea or how important they think it is. In the final step, participants can view how the thoughts in the exchange have been rated by the group. Click here to learn more about the steps of an exchange.

Unlike a traditional, “submit-it-and-forget-it” solution, participants are encouraged to keep coming back to share additional thoughts, read and rate what others think, and view direct responses to their thoughts from the exchange leader.

Why do we do it this way? Great ideas don’t hit all at once, and they’re often a collaborative effort. An exchange helps people learn from one another, discover important insights, and make decisions quickly and effectively - all this with fewer meetings and better information.

View the results of our recent ThoughtExchange.

Community Engagement on High School Schedule Alignment

Coeur d’Alene Public Schools conducted its first community ThoughtExchange from March 23 to April 10, 2022, to gather additional feedback on the question of aligning schedules for Coeur d'Alene High School and Lake City High School. Participants were invited to respond to an open-ended question, answer a few additional questions, assign stars to ideas shared by others, and learn what's important to the group. The thoughts and stars are confidential, and participants were welcome to come back as often as they wanted to view and rate new thoughts.

The main question we asked was: What are some important things for us to consider in deciding if both schools should be on the same schedule, and how to select a schedule that is best for all students?

The ThoughtExchange was shared directly with all parents and guardians in the District, all high school and middle school students, and all District staff. It was also shared with the community in a variety of ways, including through District and school websites and social media. Over 2,200 people participated during the 3-week window, sharing 1,664 thoughts and providing 43,715 thought ratings.

CLICK THIS LINK to view the full results of this exchange.