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Student panel urges El Paso ISD to replace Panorama with a district-designed survey
Summary
SuperSAC student presenters told the El Paso ISD board that Panorama's national survey questions produce flat midrange responses and urged a district-built, student-crafted survey to better capture bilingual and border-city experiences and produce actionable results.
Student members of the superintendent—s advisory council told the El Paso ISD Board of Trustees that the district—s use of the national Panorama survey is producing neutral, midrange results and should be replaced by a locally designed instrument.
"The questions that don't work are part of the growth mindset and sense of belonging category," said Emma Prado, a student representative from Young Women's Academy. Prado and peers said those questions are often ambiguous and lead many students to choose middle responses that are difficult for schools to act on.
The students showed district-level trends they said spanned 2023 winter through 2026 fall, with "very little meaningful movement" and scores clustering in the 30s and 40s. "Middle-heavy and stagnant responses make it difficult for schools to identify what students truly need," Prado said.
As an alternative, the presenters recommended creating an EPISD survey written by students and teachers and overseen by a student panel. They argued a district-specific tool could capture local context such as bilingual learning and border-city cultural representation that national tools may miss.
Trustees asked how the district would incentivize participation and whether campuses could receive and share campus-level results. Prado replied that clearer question wording and transparency about how the district acts on survey results would encourage more honest responses. "Transparency is the best policy," she said.
Board members expressed support for student involvement. A trustee noted the idea of a student board and suggested the administration explore how to implement it. Superintendent Dr. Lusk later confirmed the district is moving away from Panorama toward crafting its own instrument and said student feedback will inform that work.
The board did not take a formal vote on the recommendation during the meeting; trustees asked administration to return with implementation details and, where applicable, budget implications for adopting a new survey.
Next steps: trustees requested clearer numbers and options from staff so the board can consider the proposal as part of district planning.
