Ethnographic Research Allows St. Margaret’s to Understand and Prioritize Student Needs
By Anne Dahlem
St. Margaret’s announced to parents at the PTF General Membership Meeting in late January that the entire professional community would engage in a new round of school-wide ethnographic research this spring to inform and fuel future innovations to the school program. Self-selected design teams focused on several strategic priorities prepared for this research at the March In Service Day dedicated to school’s Innovation Strategy. Ethnography is impressive scientific-sounding lingo, yet what exactly is it, why does St. Margaret’s do it, and how is it unique?
As a data-driven institution, St. Margaret’s administrators and teachers make critical decisions about curriculum and teaching informed by sound and reliable metrics and data sets. Grades, standardized test scores, survey results, and college admission rates are some of the school’s valuable measurement tools. As Upper School Principal Jeneen Graham recently shared with other leading California private schools, the St. Margaret’s mission-centered approach to data analysis and data-driven decision making is unique and leading.
There is another important way St. Margaret’s collects and analyzes data to gauge the performance of the school and its programs, as well as student experience, outcomes, growth and well-being. Ethnography is a qualitative method for collecting data often used in the social and behavioral sciences. It combines immersive observations in real-world settings and open-ended one-on-one interviews.
Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives Ryan Dahlem says, “Ethnographic research is an incredible opportunity for the adults on campus to deepen their understanding of our students through interviews about their perspective and shadow days where we live the St. Margaret’s school day from their vantage point.”
Mr. Dahlem brought ethnographic research to St. Margaret’s during the implementation of the last strategic plan as a part of employing the design thinking methodology. Design thinking is a human-centered, empathy-driven design process that was created at Stanford University’s d.School and has been at the heart of some of the most impactful innovations to come out of Silicon Valley.
With empathy a central component and critical first step of innovation at St. Margaret’s, ethnographic research is the perfect pairing. “We often quote the advice of Stanford d.School professor and IDEO founder David Kelley, who says to truly innovate and make a difference you must ‘fall in love with your end user’—which couldn’t align more perfectly with the heart of St. Margaret’s educators,” Mr. Dahlem said.
To tap into this innate love and care for students and propensity to authentically connect with young people, St. Margaret’s professional community has been trained in ethnographic research methods, skills and steps through outside experts and dedicated professional development days. They apply this intentional process of listening to and observing the student experience through a student lens and thoughtfully analyzing and deriving meaning and conclusions for institutional strategic goals and priorities.
There are two main components of St. Margaret’s ethnographic research: need-finding interviews and shadowing students throughout their day.
The interview process consists of one-on-one conversations asking open ended questions about the student’s experience in areas of strategic priority for the school, letting students talk and share their thoughts, and simply listening and documenting their comments to analyze later. The researcher does not offer ideas, solutions or what-if comments in the conversations, rather listens to identify possible “friction points” in the student experience and prompts further conversation with additional questions to learn more. Friction points are the holy grail of these conversations; ripe opportunities for innovation. The insights are often unexpected and can be more revealing than quantitative tools, such as a Likert scale survey, to inform design and innovation. St. Margaret’s has expanded the use of interviews to include professional community members and families as the school designs for the entire community.
Listening to Students Leads to Meaningful Student Programs
Director of Equity and Inclusion Victor Cota engaged a two-year design thinking process, which centered on empathizing with students through ethnographic research, to explore and develop Upper School student affinity groups based on student interest and needs.
“Our professional community Equity Team wanted to ensure that student voices and hopes were at the forefront of this effort. We conducted over 100 ethnographic community interviews, comprising mostly of Upper School students, alumni and parents,” Mr. Cota said. “In fact, when we started the process in 2020 of asking students about their experiences, we had not determined if affinity groups were a good fit for our community. Enlisting ethnographic research ensured that the process was student-centered, student-driven and answered real and specific student needs.”
Student insights determined much more than just establishing the need and interest. This valuable information informed the structure of the program—that affinity groups would be optional and student-led, as well as which groups would be offered at the start and the logistics of how often, what type of spaces, and how the format would take shape.
“Launched in the fall of 2022 in the Upper School, by the end of the first semester, over 90 Upper School students had chosen to participate in at least one affinity group. Clearly the voice of our community had well guided us to design groups that were meaningful and impactful for students,” Mr. Cota said.
The intentional and direct outcome of ethnographic research is to identify needs of the student around strategic priorities. The “researchers” document notes from interviews and shadow experiences, identify themes and write needs statements capturing the lived experience of students. Need statements become the centerpiece and the road map for unbounded ideation sessions to generate solutions to meet the needs identified, intentionally connected to institutional goals and priorities.
The innovation process continues with prototypes and testing tangible ideas with actual “end users,” gaining even more feedback to incorporate with additional testing and pilot programs that make their way into the St. Margaret’s program. It begins, ends and continues with empathy for the needs and experience of students.
Walking in A Student’s Shoes Reveals Untapped Insights
Shadowing a student through a class, an experience or a full day of school allows the researcher to go deeper in empathizing with students, by experiencing St. Margaret’s through their eyes, to walk in their shoes, to sit in their seats.
“This is so critical to design work; to experience the school through the eyes of the student. To be side-by-side with them through their day, completing classwork, understanding the pace and the demands of their day. There is so much to be learned from walking in another’s shoes,” Mr. Dahlem said.
“To be side-by-side with them through their day, completing classwork, understanding the pace and the demands of their day. There is so much to be learned from walking in another’s shoes.”
Administrators, including Head of School Will Moseley who has shadowed in Middle School, and many other educators across the school intentionally spend time shadowing students, who eagerly volunteer for the experience to provide this glimpse into their world to school leaders.
Lower School Principal Jennifer Blount has shadowed students on several occasions, and commits her leadership team to engaging in the activity at least once a school year. She has learned valuable insights that allow for immediate tweaks and pilots to the program through her days shadowing students, like recognizing a few years ago that there was a need for more unstructured time in the school day resulting in more recess time and increased outdoor provocations.
Mrs. Blount shadowed a grade 2 student earlier this year to specifically observe if and how the pandemic might be impacting her students on a daily basis. “We use various methods, like our Faculty Growth and Support protocol, to formally observe and assess progress of our educational programs toward teaching and learning goals. Shadow days provide me a view through the lens of a student, in this case a 7-year-old child,” she says. “Shadowing allows me to not only experience the academic setting first-hand, what works well for me as a student and what may need adjusting. It also allows me to see what life is like for the student from the non-academic side. The experience of walking in the shoes of our students changes your perspective as an educator and informs every decision in unparalleled ways.”
Ethnographic research has a beneficial byproduct as well. “It is a sticky learning experience for adults. Living a full day as a grade 9 student, for example, is a very different experience than stopping by a classroom for a traditional observational visit,” says Mr. Dahlem. “Spending time with students in these ways stays with you and you take away incredible appreciation for the responsibility and expectation placed on our students and the ways they rise to meet daily challenges. You also develop a better understand the structure and pace of their days, and the subtleties of peer and student-teacher relationships.”
Conversely, students say they feel heard, seen, respected and validated in their experience, and appreciate that the school really means what it says about valuing their voice and input.
The insights have flowed and the process has also become routine to stay tuned in to how students are doing. “We take these new understandings, from our collective ethnographic research, into decisions we make to advance the student experience. The extraordinary engagement and creativity of the professional community have led to significant outcomes.”
Much like the innovation strategy process itself, the mindful act of empathizing with students has influenced everyday experiences and interactions. “This is incredibly valuable across the school, and we foresee immeasurable benefits as we lean even deeper into the entire student experience including belonging, meaning, physical and mental health and well-being,” he said.
St. Margaret’s Innovations Stemmed from Ethnographic Research
Later School Day Start (previously 7:45 a.m.)
Balanced, Consistent Daily School Schedule with intentional breaks
Innovation Exploration and Life Skills Mini-Courses
Expanded Advisory time
Redesign of Service Learning Program
Additional Lower School K-1 Outdoor Classroom time
Cross-Divisional Learning Opportunities
Expanded Upper School and Middle School Elective Course Offerings
Student Affinity Groups