Minnetonka Public Schools

In the 2020-21 school year, the Minnetonka Public Schools’ Board of Directors set a bold, long-term goal: fostering a greater sense of belonging for all students by focusing on their lived experiences. To support this vision, the district partnered with Search Institute to integrate the Developmental Relationships Framework into daily practices in classrooms and adult interactions across the district. Through different learning experiences and spaces created for staff, the first stage of this collaboration aimed to cultivate a shared language and a common understanding of the key elements and actions central to building strong relationships with students. In other words, what it truly takes to make a relationship developmental.

A pivotal component of this effort was the use of Search Institute’s Developmental Relationships Survey, which revealed both strengths and potential areas for growth across the district. The survey unearthed critical insights, including nuanced differences in how different demographic groups experience relationships within the school community. For example, early findings highlighted that one student group reported experiences distinct from their peers. Through focused outreach and intentional relationship-building over the following year, the district was able to significantly narrow this gap.

Minnetonka Public Schools also scrutinized the difference between adults’ perceptions and students’ experiences of relationships. While some perceptions were closely aligned—such as “expecting the best”—others showed substantial gaps. Notably, in one school during the 2022-23 year, only 62% of students reported experiencing warmth from adults, compared to 98% of adults who believed they demonstrated it.

“Adults feel so strongly that they are expressing a relational experience, but our youth are experiencing them at different levels,” says Sara White, Director of Teacher Development with Minnetonka Public Schools. “It can be challenging to accept so we really work hard with our adults to frame the results as formative feedback. One way that has been really helpful in overcoming skepticism has been elevating student voice because while we can speculate on what the survey results mean, really the best source of understanding are our kids.”

To bridge these gaps, the district focused on elevating youth voice with some buildings conducting student focus groups, while others asked students to describe their experience and shared direct recordings with teachers to help unpack students’ experiences of developmental relationship actions. Teachers reflected on these authentic student perspectives and developed targeted action plans. This intensive, student-centered approach resulted in a measurable 5% increase within a year in how students experienced a key aspect of developmental relationships.

Fast forward to today, the district continues rooting their work in the power of Developmental Relationships as one of the engines to ensure the well-being, connection and belonging of students, impacting not just student outcomes, but their families and community as a whole.