Minnesota Principals Survey gives school leaders a voice in state education policy
Last November, more than 2,400 school leaders in Minnesota were invited to take the third biennial Minnesota Principals Survey. The comprehensive survey is designed to elevate the voices of Minnesota principals, assistant principals, and charter school leaders in state and local decisions bearing on PreK-12 education.
Originally developed in 2021 by the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) in CEHD in collaboration with a diverse group of educators and partners, the survey has now been administered three times—2021, 2023, and 2025. It has become one of the most effective tools to garner educational leader opinions in the state.
“Data has been used by principal preparation programs, two principal organizations, the Minnesota Department of Education, school board and superintendent associations, and state lawmakers,” says Katie Pekel, former executive director of educational leadership at CEHD and one of the key leaders of the survey project. “We feel the intent to elevate principals’ voices across the state has been somewhat achieved.”
Creating the survey
Patrice Relerford is the vice president of collective impact and giving at the Minneapolis Foundation, a community-based philanthropic organization. Her role entails leading the foundation’s program and grant-making team, overseeing its K-12 education grant-making and policy advocacy work, and leading strategies that advance collective giving among its fund holders and the broader community.
In 2020, she was part of a group of K–12 educational funders that approached staff and researchers from CEHD, including Pekel, about creating a statewide principal survey to capture principals’ thoughts and perspectives. She also served on the working group for the 2021 survey, which was funded by the Minneapolis Foundation and the Joyce Foundation. The Minneapolis Foundation also supported the 2023 and 2025 surveys.
“It has been an honor to support CEHD and CAREI on this project over the past five years,” Relerford says. “Their researchers are deeply knowledgeable and have earned the trust of principals, teachers, and superintendents across Minnesota. That trust is reflected in the survey’s growing response rate over time, which strengthens its value as a tool for understanding the experiences and perspectives of school leaders.”
Relerford says the survey is unique because it provides a statewide picture of Minnesota schools through the eyes of the people leading them every day. “It offers insights that are often not captured through traditional education data,” she says.
Leading the technical and project management aspects of the project is Sara Kemper, a research associate at CAREI. This work includes developing, revising, and programming the survey; leading data analysis and reporting; and coordinating follow-up focus groups. The survey includes questions on job satisfaction, working conditions, professional development, needed supports, and other topics relevant to today’s education leaders.
“By design, the survey includes what we call an ‘insert section,’ which changes with each administration and addresses a topic chosen collaboratively by our survey advisory council,” Kemper says. “In 2021, the topic of that insert was COVID-19; in 2023, it was mental health; and in 2025, it was challenges and successes with student behavior.”
Results from the Minnesota Principals Survey show the amount of time school leaders spend on various aspects of their job.
Key findings
In the 2025 survey, eight key themes were identified:
- School leaders (still) don’t have time for instructional leadership.
- Student mental health remains a top challenge.
- Disruptive behavior is interfering with learning, compromising safety in “extreme” cases.
- Chronic absenteeism is attributed to mental health, student/family beliefs.
- Leaders face challenges partnering with parents and caregivers.
- The READ Act is burdensome—but impactful.
- Principals feel that schools are “doing more with less.”
- ...and yet, they continue to find satisfaction in their jobs.
“A consistent finding is that principals spend a lot more time than they’d like to on administrative tasks, like reporting requirements, and also responding to challenging student behavior,” Kemper says. “These take time away from instructional leadership tasks, like classroom observations and teacher coaching, that matter most for improved student learning, according to research.”
Another major theme has been the recurrence of student mental health as a top challenge for school leaders. “Open-ended comments tell us that not only has it been extremely challenging to get students the mental health services they need, but the impacts of mental health are also really far-reaching,” Kemper explains.
“School leaders connect student mental health challenges like anxiety and emotional dysregulation to a range of downstream effects like poor attendance and disruptive behavior, which can also affect the learning of other students.”
Relerford notes how the results of the survey are especially useful for policymakers seeking to gauge the real-world impact of education policies on students, educators, and schools. “Principals expressed optimism about the long-term potential of the READ Act to improve literacy outcomes for Minnesota students while also highlighting concerns about the strain associated with implementing new training requirements and curriculum changes,” she says. “The survey helps policymakers better understand both the promise and the practical challenges of major education initiatives.”
Kemper says one thing that has always surprised her has been that, despite the tremendous challenges school leaders face, they really like their jobs. “This past year, for example, 88 percent of survey respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that they are satisfied with being a leader at their school,” she says. “Many tell us in open-ended comments that they love the work they get to do with students and families, but they often question whether it’s sustainable.”
Left to right: Patrice Relerford, Julian Stanke, Mike LeMier, and Sara Kemper.
A barometer of successes and challenges
In March, Pekel and Kemper testified before the Education Finance Committee in the Minnesota Senate along with two principals, Julian Stanke and Mike LeMier, about the results of the survey. Both principals find the survey a valuable tool.
“My hope for the Minnesota Principals Survey is that it will continue to be the barometer for what successes and challenges are faced by our schools across Minnesota throughout the year,” says Stanke, principal of Birch Lake Elementary School in White Bear Lake. He says the survey has increasingly grown its response rate because it is being valued and the responses are helping to not only share information but also lead to change.
“That change has looked like new offerings for professional development, collaboration amongst principal associations, all the way to opportunities to share experiences with the state legislature as the ultimate agent of statewide change,” he says.
Stanke says principals can represent not only their leadership experiences, but also the needs of their staff, students, and communities. “The principalship is such a special and unique hub in our communities around the state of Minnesota and can often offer perspective into the daily experiences in our schools unlike any other role,” he says. “I hope that the survey continues to carry and support that perspective, and that those who study the findings of the survey continue to turn that into tangible support for our building leaders, because that support will resonate throughout our school systems, and ultimately lead to improving student experiences and achievement.”
As a principal of color, Stanke says he has found great value in being able to share the perspective of school leadership through that lens. “Especially in recent years, it has been increasingly valuable to be able to share my experiences and perspectives, and how they have impacted our school’s experience,” he says. “I think what has resonated most with my experience as a school leader is the need for further support in student mental health services.” Oftentimes, mental health needs impact the root of other issues, such as daily attendance, behavioral concerns, and academic achievement, Stanke explains. “Finding ways to better support our students and their families with the barriers they face in getting to school regularly does impact their academic achievement, and if we can find ways to better support those needs, we will see the dividends increase across the student experience,” he says.
LeMier, the principal of Century Elementary School in Park Rapids, says findings from the survey should help ground conversations about education in the realities of what is actually happening in the state’s schools. “While the survey focuses on the principalship, many of the issues identified are fundamentally teaching and learning issues that directly impact teachers and students,” he says.
“Too often, educational policy is shaped by anecdotal stories that become over-generalized, leading to broad, sweeping legislation. My hope is that this survey resonates with lawmakers and reinforces the importance of seeking input from school leaders who are directly entrusted with the care and education of our communities’ children before implementing policy decisions.”
The survey finding that resonated most with LeMier was that many principals lack sufficient time in their day to serve as the instructional leaders they aspired to be when they left the classroom. “We are deeply passionate about teaching and learning and about working alongside teachers to improve instruction and student outcomes,” he says. “However, increasing student behavioral needs, meetings, managerial responsibilities, and extensive reporting requirements tied to multiple funding streams significantly limit our time in classrooms. While I understand that the principalship naturally includes cycles of higher and lower stress, the competing demands of the modern school environment too often pull me away from instructional leadership and make it difficult to maintain both instructional focus and a healthy work–life balance.”
The future of the survey
Pekel says she hopes the survey will be ongoing. “Funding is of course a real concern, but I am hopeful that the legislature and Minnesota Department of Education will dedicate resources to allow it to continue for years to come,” she says. Kemper says her team feels they owe it to school leaders to ensure the data gets used. “We have begun to see more use of survey data—for instance, administrative licensure programs have been using it for program improvement, and we’ve heard that teams at the Minnesota Department of Education have incorporated the data into onboarding materials and used it to plan school supports,” she says. “Ultimately, my hope is that the survey will prompt education leaders and lawmakers to take meaningful action on the challenges that are most getting in the way of student learning.”