Panorama Education, Inc.

Services Overview

Panorama Education
For inquiries, contact:
Xan Tanner
xtanner@panoramaed.com
109 Kingston Street
Boston, MA 02111

Overview
Panorama Education collaborates with school districts, state education departments, and charter
school networks to design and administer perception surveys for students, families, and
educators. We guide and support districts through the survey process: from survey design to
administration, then from report generation to analysis. At the heart of our work is the
Panorama Platform, a secure, cloud-based technology platform, designed to facilitate the
collection and analysis of survey data.
Panorama runs survey and analysis programs in 4,500 schools across 26 states, with a client list
that includes Los Angeles Unified School District, Prince Georges County Public Schools, the
Connecticut State Department of Education, and Teach for America.

Our Collaborative Approach

Districts have different visions for their survey programs and different protocols for how their
staffs interact with our team. We view schools and school leaders as partners, consulting them
throughout the survey process, serving as both technology providers and consultants. An effective
survey program requires more than excellent technology, and we appreciate working with district
and school leaders to ensure that we provide flexible, responsive, and effective service.
In some cases, district leaders have limited time to devote to a survey project. When that
happens, we are prepared to take the reins, orchestrating the survey project from start to finish.
We are happy to be as hands-on or as hands-off as our partners desire.
We aim to improve our product and love when educators request new features or offer feedback.
In fact, our partners collective wisdom generates creative solutions to many of the challenges we
encounter in our work. We also like to disseminate best practices and to serve as a repository of
useful knowledge for our clients and other educators across the country.

Survey Processes
1) SURVEY PROGRAMS
Effective survey programs appear in different forms: administration methods vary, as do
frequency and reporting categories. We work with districts to select a survey design and
administration plan that provides the greatest value at the lowest cost.

2) SURVEY DESIGN
Panorama has developed validated survey instruments and item banks for classroom- and
teacher-level feedback surveys and school climate surveys (for parents, students, teachers, and
staff). Our survey instruments allow districts to draw on the experiences and insight of their key
stakeholders: parents, students, teachers, and staff. Some districts opt to use our validated survey
instruments without alteration. More often, however, we work with district partners to
customize their survey instruments based on local teaching frameworks and evaluation rubrics.

3) SURVEY ADMINISTRATION
Administering Student Surveys
Panorama enables districts to administer student surveys online, on paper, or a combination of
the two. For paper surveys, Panorama manages printing and shipping. We send each school its
survey forms, bundled by teacher or course section for easy distribution. After administering the
surveys, schools return the forms to Panorama for processing and analysis.
For online surveys, Panorama generates access codes for each student. These codes prevent
students from taking surveys multiple times and ensure that each student takes the right survey
for the right class.
For secondary students, we suggest administering surveys in each class period. We find that
survey results can vary significantly across a teachers classes. And we recommend staggering
surveys over 2-3 weeks to avoid survey fatigue (e.g., Period 1 on Monday, Period 2 on Tuesday).
Alternatively, in some districts, we use a stratified random sampling technique, in which we
randomly assign students to take surveys for 2-3 of their teachers. To ensure that every teacher
has a representative student sample, our algorithm accounts for class period and demographic
subgroups.
For districts that choose to include school-wide climate questions in addition to classroom-level
questions, our platform ensures that each student responds to school-wide questions once and
only once.
3

Administering Parent Surveys

Panorama administers parent surveys online and on paper/by mail. An effective parent survey
program entails both a high response rate and a representative group of parents who respond (not
only the parents with Internet access). Panorama sends paper surveys for each parent to
individual schools so that school staff can distribute surveys to parents at school events.
Alternatively or in addition Panorama provides online access codes for parents to complete
surveys on their smartphones or in school computer labs.
Panorama assigns each parent a unique access code to track response rates and ensure that
surveys are completed only once. We strongly recommend using access codes before partnering
with us and using access codes, some of our clients saw their most vocal parents respond many
times, skewing survey results.
Panorama sends reminder emails and text messages and makes phone calls to parents. We deliver
all communication in a students home language and can include a parents unique access code.
Our phone system reads a parent his/her access code, allowing him/her to take the survey
immediately. Panorama can also mail surveys to parents who have not responded to an online
survey. To increase return rates, these letters include a pre-paid reply envelope.
Live Response Rates
Panorama provides district leaders with a live response rate dashboard that tracks survey
completions for each school by survey type (student, parent, teacher/staff). We update online
results in real-time paper results within one business day.
Mobile- and Tablet-Optimized Surveys
If students, parents, or staff access an online survey from a smartphone or tablet, the Panorama
Platform automatically directs them to a version of the survey website that is optimized for their
device.
Additional Customization Options
Panorama offers a new optional feature that enables each school and each teacher to add
questions to the end of any survey instrument. For instance, if a teacher wants to insert questions
that apply only to her students, she can enter the Panorama Platform before the survey window
opens and add her classroom-specific questions. Then, the paper or online surveys for that
teachers classes automatically include her additional questions. Similarly, a principal can add
questions for all teachers at his/her school.

4) REPORTING
The most valuable aspect of a survey program comes in the form of actionable feedback.
Panorama analyzes survey data in conjunction with other data collected by our partner districts.
We offer each teacher and administrator an interactive, online report and a printable version that
highlights key takeaways. Our analytics and improvement model focuses on the following areas:
Reports are available quickly, with a 1-3 week turnaround time. (Turnaround time varies
by survey administration model).
Interactive reports allow educators to explore their data and examine survey results by
subgroup. For example, teachers can see how female and male students engage differently
in their coursework; principals can view how responses to questions about bullying differ
between ninth- and tenth-graders.
All interactive features appear instantly (<1 second loading time) to encourage
exploration, even with large data sets.
Panorama can link data gathered from student and parent surveys to other data that
schools already collect, fostering rich subgroup analysis.
Teacher and school reports can include comparison data across a school district, a state,
or a charter school network. Panorama is capable of customizing comparisons (e.g., 9th
Grade Teachers Average or English Teachers Average).
Panorama can import data from previous survey administrations for longitudinal
comparisons.

5) DATA EXPORT
Panorama exports data files in XSLX, CSV, and other formats.

6) REFLECTION
At the end of the survey process, and to whatever extent is most beneficial throughout the year,
we debrief with our partners to identify strengths and areas of improvements for the future. With
our partners permission, at the end of a survey project, we hope to ask for feedback from all
participating educators, knowing how valuable their insights are to improving our service.