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RPS presents Panorama survey: secondary schools show lower national percentiles than elementary peers
Summary
District staff presented results from the 2024 Panorama student and staff surveys on Jan. 21. District leaders said trends suggest improvements in secondary belonging and school climate but noted survey question changes and response‑rate variations complicate year‑to‑year comparisons.
District research staff presented the Rochester Public Schools 2024 Panorama student and staff survey results during the Jan. 21 Independent School District 535 school board meeting, and highlighted where the data will inform school improvement work.
"It gives us a place to dig deeper," said Dr. Peter Ruck, director of research and improvement, describing Panorama as a screening tool the district uses to identify areas for follow‑up at the school level. He and staff described the instrument, how percent‑favorable scores are calculated, and cautioned that revised question language at the elementary level produced a national, vendor‑wide drop in some measures this year.
Ruck said elementary results generally place district elementaries in the 60th to 70th percentiles nationally, while secondary schools rank lower compared with national peers. He noted several substantive improvements at the school level: Franklin's school‑safety index rose by 19 percentage points, Bishop by 13 points, Elton Hills by 10 points; several secondary schools reported school‑safety increases of 9–12 points and universal classroom‑belonging gains of 6–12 points.
Board members asked about response rates and representativeness. Treasurer Cook asked whether the students taking the survey skewed the results; Ruck said Panorama provides demographic breakdowns of respondents, but not of nonrespondents, and that the data available indicate response demographics broadly match school populations. The staff reported high schools' response rates were roughly 48–60 percent this year, with some schools as high as 72 percent in prior administrations.
Superintendent (name not specified) told the board the data are most actionable at the school level and recommended using Panorama findings to target interventions — for example, to identify which subgroups at schools reporting safety gains still feel unsafe so that principals can design focused supports. Ruck and the superintendent said the data will be used in the district's updated school improvement process ("skip 2.0") and discussed timing for future administrations to improve comparability.
No board action was requested; the presentation was informational and district staff said they will return with more granular breakdowns and a plan to integrate survey measures into school improvement planning.
