We are pleased to announce the addition of Rob DeMeuse, PhD, to our School Perceptions team!
Rob recently completed his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin’s School of Education. I thought he would be a great asset to help districts not only design community surveys but also drive their continuous improvement efforts with staff, student, and parent surveys as well.
Rob’s PhD research focused on the political behavior of voters in school referendum elections. He used various statistical tools to predict over 3,000 Wisconsin referendum outcomes over the course of three decades. He has also conducted post-election interviews with voters in districts around the state to understand better why people vote yes, why people vote no, and why people change their minds.
When Tim (our VP of Technology) and I interviewed Rob in summer 2020, I asked him what he thought were some of the most interesting things he learned during his research.
The first thing he told me was that a lot of the old adages about referendums in Wisconsin just aren’t right. Taking a football team to play at state in Camp Randall does not improve your chances of passing a referendum.
The second thing he told me was that stereotypes about political parties and referendums simply aren’t true. Democratic voters don’t vote yes on referendums just because they’re Democrats, and Republican voters don’t vote no on referendums just because they’re Republicans. People care about their community’s schools and their wallets no matter who they are and no matter where they are.
Rob’s role at School Perceptions is to work with districts to design staff, student, parent, and community surveys specific to their needs; he’s developing some new products that we’re getting ready to roll out this school year (keep an eye out!—we’re excited); and he’s updating our current surveys with the most up-to-date research in the field.
Rob was born and raised in Algoma, a rural, northeastern Wisconsin community. Before grad school, he taught high school social studies in Evansville, WI, and he currently lives in Madison with his wife, Helen. He’s a Badger basketball fanatic and is also proud to remind me that he’s only missed one home Badger football game since November 2006. Last—but certainly not least—Rob loves the Pack.
Please welcome Rob to our team! You can reach him at rdemeuse@schoolperceptions.com.
The School Perceptions Blog and Resource Center features the voices of our team members. This post was written by Bill Foster, President, Founder, & Owner of School Perceptions.