Independent Schools' Board Research Project

About the Project

ISB Research Project

This research project is conducted through Olivet Nazarene University (ONU) in Bourbonnais, Illinois.

The purpose of the DEIJ Perspectives and Practices of Independent School Boards project is to learn how board members at independent schools perceive diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) and how those perspectives and practices may shape the school’s environment and governance. 

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Study participants will complete a 48-question survey with 5 additional demographic questions. The survey should take only 5-10 minutes to complete. Before beginning the survey, participants will be asked to review and acknowledge the study’s consent to participate form.

We ask that participants complete the survey by Friday, May 17, 2024. 

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Survey participants must be over the age of 18 and current board members (including heads of school) at an independent school. For the purpose of this survey, an independent school is defined as an institution in good standing with an association such as, but not limited to, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), regional independent school associations (e.g., California Association of Independent Schools [CAIS] or Southern Association of Independent Schools [SAIS]), and/or the National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES).

All the information collected during the study will be held in the strictest confidence. Participants WILL NOT be asked to identify themselves or the school(s) they serve as a board member. Contact information (i.e., email address, physical or mailing address, or phone number) and IP addresses WILL NOT be collected during the survey. Participants will not be able to be identified in any ensuing reports or publications. The data collected during this will be retained in a secure manner within the ONU informational technology system by the principal investigator (researcher) for three years and then destroyed.

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Upon completing the survey, participants will be given the option to submit their school’s basic information (name and address), which will enter the school into a raffle to win one of four $250 donations to their school’s scholarship program. School information will be collected anonymously in a separate database to protect survey participants’ anonymity. Submitting a school’s information to the scholarship raffle is entirely optional.

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Please direct all inquiries about this research project to Ryan D. Newman.