MCREN Network Health Survey Data Workgroup
In the fall of 2023, MCREN distributed the Network Health Survey to Multnomah and Clackamas County Educators. The purpose of the MCREN Network Health Survey is to collect an annual snapshot of educator needs, engagement levels with MCREN, and well-being indicators across our region.
The survey was open from October 20th to December 15th and distributed through emails, flyers, social media, presentations at MCREN events and by school invitations, and word of mouth. Eligible participants included all licensed and classified staff in the Multnomah and Clackamas ESDs and respondents were incentivized with the chance of winning 1 of 50 wellness prizes. MCREN is thankful to the 1,138 respondents that participated in the survey.
A group of Coordinating Body members has recently formed a Network Health Survey Data Workgroup. The Workgroup is working beside MCREN to take a deep dive into the Network Health Survey results. Workgroup members include Ben Baldizon, Dot Berry, Farnosh Ghasemi, Jammie Landis, Kelly Stickel, and Sara Snow.
The workgroup series includes 4 sessions. The first 3 sessions take a deep look into the main components of the survey:
1) Demographics/Well-being/Role Satisfaction;
2) Engagement with MCREN; and
3) Reported Needs and Supports.
The focus of the last session will be a compilation of all group learnings with an eye towards planning next steps. The overall objectives of the workgroup series are to:
- Recognize who in the region is represented in the sample population and whose voices are missing
- Identify data parameters for defining the margins and making the invisible visible
- Describe the reported needs of educators
- Understand educator engagement patterns with MCREN
- Generate ideas for future MCREN offerings and engagement activities
- Plan for next year’s regional data collection activities
Data Workgroup Session 1: Getting to Know the Sample Population was held in March. In this first session the group collectively noticed patterns in the data that surprised them. One unexpected finding was that although 61% of respondents had 11+ years of total service in education 37% were in a new role for 3 years or less. The workgroup will be looking into this pattern deeper to determine how the intersection of these two factors may be related to reported needs. A second unexpected finding was a noticeable gap in respondents from Multnomah ESD and in particular Portland Public Schools. As a result of this noticing MCREN will be reopening a shortened version of the Network Health Survey to PPS due to the ongoing strike which occurred during the administration of the Network Health Survey. By doing this we hope to gather more representative information about the needs of educators in the MESD.
Data Workgroup Session 2: Needs and Supports of Teachers, Admin, and Paraprofessionals is scheduled for April 11th from 5:00 -7:00 pm via Zoom. All MCREN Coordinating Body members are encouraged to attend. Please send a request for the meeting link to kelly@mcren.org.
