Home Teaching Statistics at the Stake level

[sdrakulich]

Hello,

I'm a stake clerk and have been asked to prepare a report for our stake president with the following items:

- Home Teaching percentages for the last 8 quarters for each Ward HP Group.
- Same report and over the same period for each Elder's Quorum.
- Home Teaching percentages for the last 8 quarters for the Stake HP as a whole.
- Same report for the Elders.

It seems like I've put this together in the past but I can't find a prior report anywhere. I've spent all morning in LCR going through the Quarterly Reports, unit statistics and anything else where I can think of that might break out the home teaching percentages over the last 8 quarters for EQ and HPG but I've been unsuccessful so far. I do see the rolling 12 month by month report for Home Teaching but I'm wondering if there is a way to split these numbers out over the last 8 quarters based on the data provided to stake clerks in LCR. My only other thought is to email each ward individually and ask for these numbers over the past 8 quarters. Any other suggestions? Thank you!

[russellhltn]

I think you're going to have to ask the wards. The problem with the stats in LCR is that the results will change based on members who move out (the system is designed to see how well families are being visited - not to grade the visiting). Since I think you want to know what the submitted reports were, you're going to have to find the actual quarterly reports, not what the on-line systems show.

The catch is that I'm not sure as the wards would have a record of their past quarterly reports.

[aebrown]

Since I think you want to know what the submitted reports were, you're going to have to find the actual quarterly reports, not what the on-line systems show.

The catch is that I'm not sure as the wards would have a record of their past quarterly reports.

The actual quarterly reports are available to the wards on LCR for many years into the past (and the stake has access to the quarterly reports for all the wards). That's not the question. The question is how to split out EQ and HPG home teaching, since the quarterly report only has the total home teaching numbers for the ward.

Only in the Home Teaching reports area can you see the numbers split out by EQ and HPG, but those numbers aren't static (they change as members move in and out), and as noted in the OP, they are not available back more than a year or so. If the stake (or each ward) did not preserve those numbers in the past, then I don't see a way that either the stake or wards can get the information from more than a year ago.

[sdrakulich]

Thanks for the responses. What you've said is what I already suspected but I was just looking for some confirming voices. Like I mentioned, I was under the impression I had done this before a year or two ago but I'm probably thinking of a different report. I'll come up with a plan B for our Stake President. Again, thanks for the input.

[russellhltn]

I was under the impression I had done this before a year or two ago but I'm probably thinking of a different report.

You might have gotten it from MLS, but as things move to LCR, there are some subtle changes.

[scgallafent]

If you need to go back eight quarters, your only resources are the quarterly report and the key indicators report. Neither of those reports splits by assignment to high priests or elders.

Home teaching data in HT/VT only goes back a year (current month plus 12 previous months).

[jirp]

You are likely out of luck. Something if you can get the wards using into the future that might help. It keeps the numbers by month and graphs them. If it is used as an intermediary and a new file is started each year you can have that data. I have 5 years of data in it. This form is designed to print neatly on just 2 pages. It graphs the information and is easily updated.

[JonSevy]

Our unit is considering Elder Holland's recent conference talk (Oct 2016) a call to report any contact as a countable HTing contact for reporting purposes.

I have never been a ward clerk, but it seems that the First Presidency and Twelve have somewhere made it crystal clear what a reportable contact is for HTing. Noticeably absent from the computer system I have seen are little telephone and card icons in the HTing report section, although those options are present in the VTing reports.

So, where is the instruction to ward clerks?

Handbook 2, 7.4.4 Reporting Home Teaching
"The elders quorum president and high priests
group leader give the bishop monthly home
teaching reports. Each report includes a list of
those who were not contacted"
surely cannot be all there is.

[aebrown]

So, where is the instruction to ward clerks?

The Quarterly Report provides these instructions:

12. Families visited by home teachers: Record the number of families who were visited by home teachers during the last month of the quarter.
13. Women contacted by visiting teachers: Record the number of women who were contacted by visiting teachers during the last month of the quarter.

It's instructive that line 12 uses the word "visited" but line 13 uses the word "contacted." Of course, those words are still subject to some interpretation, but the difference is certainly important.

Also, the earlier parts of Handbook 2, Section 7.4 consistently refer to "visits", whereas the corresponding section on visiting teaching (Handbook 2, Section 9.5) specifically states that "visiting teachers may use phone calls, letters, e-mail, or other means to watch over and strengthen sisters."

Elder Holland is an apostle who was speaking in general conference, so his teachings are certainly important. I personally think he was getting an important point across, but did not intend to change policy. But if it was intended to be a policy change, I would think that it would be reflected at some point in the official handbooks and reports. That has not happened at this point, but of course such changes do take some time to make.

[russellhltn]

I think what you're referring to in the talk is: "Now, as for what “counts” as home teaching, every good thing you do “counts,” so report it all!" I believe Elder Holland is referring to the report to the quorum presidency. I seriously doubt that saying "hi" in the hallway would "count" in the HT statistics, so if there was a change, there would have to be some kind of guideline as to what counts. On that front, we've seen no change.