Equity Audits and Surveys
Panorama Culture and Climate Surveys
In the spring of 2019, the Ames Community School District began using the Panorama Culture and Climate Survey. The survey includes questions around social and emotional learning, school satisfaction, and staff and family engagement, among others. The purpose of this survey is to gather perception data from key stakeholders. The survey results guide goal areas based on the District’s Priorities and Goals.
In the results, each survey has a summary section that illustrates the percentage of respondents who surveyed “favorable” to the questions and topics. Panorama also compares to how those scores benchmark nationally. Because the survey has been administered multiple years, changes to last year’s results are noted, with the exception of the new equity-related survey questions.
Equity Audits
Equity audits are tools that can be utilized to evaluate the level of equity or inequity that exists within a school building. This tool allows one to audit schooling practices (e.g., school disciplinary practices, teacher placement, student placement); student programming (e.g., gifted and talented programs, special education,extracurricular activities); school demographics (e.g., diversity of staff); and student achievement and attainment (student performance on standardized tests and AP exams; student matriculation and dropout data).