Roaring Fork leaders present strategic-plan progress, release new data dashboard and student survey findings

Superintendent Dr. Anna Cole told the Roaring Fork School District Board that the district is moving forward on its five‑priority strategic plan while finishing work on a public data dashboard and responding to winter storms that affected operations.

The district has begun posting a data dashboard linked to the strategic plan on the district website, Cole said, with marketing materials (posters) due to be distributed to schools “in the next week or two.” She thanked operational teams for snow‑day planning and families for flexibility, and singled out bilingual communications specialist Christina Vargas for updates to school webpages ahead of kindergarten enrollment.

Dr. Park, assistant superintendent, presented results from this winter’s Panorama student survey, explaining how the district connected specific survey categories to the district’s strategic priorities and why the survey matters as a measure of student perception. Park said the district administered two student surveys this year (a school survey and a teacher survey) for grades 3–12; the district did not administer the K–2 instrument and opted not to administer the separate “crew” survey because of inconsistent terminology across sites.

The Panorama administration had an initial December completion rate of 85.5 percent for the primary sections; Park said the belonging questions were inadvertently left off the December administration and were re‑administered in January, with a 71 percent completion rate for that second administration. Park cautioned that the separate timing of the belonging questions complicates year‑to‑year comparisons for that metric.

District highlights from Park’s presentation included increases in several categories: grit and learning strategies in the elementary 3–5 cohort, and across many teacher‑and‑classroom measures for grades 6–12, where Park said classroom climate and engagement rose by several percentage points. Conversely, Park flagged declines or flat results in some 3–5 measures (including a drop on the question about how easy it is to get help from an adult) and some teacher‑related categories in the elementary cohort; she said school leaders and teachers are reviewing school‑level reports and following up with staff where results are concerning.

Cole and Park described district next steps: schools are conducting local debriefs of their reports, school leaders will use the dashboard and survey data to measure progress against strategic goals, and district staff are piloting targeted interventions. Cole said the district will post all school and district reports to the website once the materials are finalized.

Park described district pilots intended to address declines in student access to trusted adults: non‑anonymous social‑emotional screeners in a subset of schools and locally maintained lists that help faculty proactively assign staff to students who report not having a trusted adult. Park said those pilots will allow the district to identify students who need follow‑up and measure change when interventions are repeated.

Board members asked about national percentile comparisons provided by Panorama, how moving fifth graders to the 3–5 survey affected results, and whether the omission and late administration of belonging questions distorted year‑to‑year comparisons. Park and Cole responded that the district reviews national and internal benchmarks and that some historical changes (for example, which survey fifth graders take) require careful interpretation. Cole said district leaders have also run internal enrollment and forecast calculations and suggested sharing existing demographic forecasts with the state demographer for review before inviting an external presentation.

The board and staff emphasized preserving longitudinal comparability if questions are substantially changed in future administrations; Park said the district reviews survey items annually and that removing many questions would disrupt statistical reliability and historical comparisons.

The district also announced work that remains in progress: Cole said the equity audit final presentation by the district’s Promise54 partner is scheduled for March 12, and that some operational‑systems integration has been delayed by turnover and budget constraints. Cole said the district is preparing Spanish‑language communications to make the strategic plan and dashboard more accessible to Spanish‑speaking families.

The presentation prompted follow‑up: board members asked for clear links from the dashboard to individual‑school reports, for annual reports on school‑level Panorama findings to be posted on the district website, and for school‑level usage and follow‑up plans where survey items are low or declining. Park said the individual school reports would be posted the night of the meeting or the following day and encouraged board members and families to review them online.

The board reserved additional time for review as schools implement targeted actions and as the district refines dashboard visuals and language.