BOSTON, MA — (Marketwired) — 12/03/14 — which helps K-12 schools improve through data analysis and feedback surveys of teachers, parents and students, announced today the results of a survey conducted in partnership with the . Panorama Education currently partners with 25 school districts in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to administer and analyze student, teacher, and community feedback surveys.
The recent survey of school district administrators and school committee members highlights a number of issues facing schools across the Commonwealth. The responses represented urban, suburban and rural (28%, 39%, and 33% respectively) communities from across Massachusetts.
When asked to rank the single most pressing challenge in education today, 40% of school leaders chose “allocating funds to schools more equitably” and 33% responded “closing the achievement gap.” 5% responded that the single most pressing challenge is “raising the prestige of the teaching profession.” The remaining respondents answered, “Developing and retaining teacher talent in our schools” (22%).
In their responses to the question, “How engaged are the parents in your district around school improvement initiatives?” school leaders from urban and suburban communities answered favorably at starkly different rates. 43% of suburban school leaders responded favorably to the question on parental engagement, while only 8% of urban school leaders answered favorably. Rural district leaders responded favorably at a rate of 27%.
“We were surprised to learn that equitable allocation of funds is such an important issue for school administrators and school committee members in the Commonwealth,” said Glenn Koocher, Executive Director of MASC. “The focus of school leaders on equity as a core issue, as well as closing the achievement gap, helps to direct our advocacy in Massachusetts.”
Mr. Koocher continues, “If we want to close the achievement gap in Massachusetts, we need to look at parental involvement in many urban districts. It–s important to engage parents across every school, and this is certainly a top priority for school officials and communities across the Commonwealth.”
“We hope this feedback can shine a light on the priorities of school officials across the Commonwealth,” said Aaron Feuer, Co-Founder and CEO of Panorama Education. “These results show that district administrators and school committee members from around Massachusetts face similar challenges, from ensuring equitable funding to engaging families to closing the achievement gap.”
helps schools improve through data analysis and feedback surveys of teachers, parents and students. Panorama–s technology platform helps teachers grow, and schools use Panorama–s tools to address issues such as parent involvement, bullying prevention, school safety and student engagement. Panorama is used in 5,000 schools serving more than one million students. Based in Boston, Mass., the company is backed by Y Combinator, Mark Zuckerberg–s Startup:Education, SoftTech VC, Google Ventures and others. Learn more at .
For information, contact:
Michelle Faulkner
For Panorama Education
+1 617-510-6998
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