Charleston County School District works with Panorama Education to provide students with climate surveys

A concerned community member provided Parents Defending Education with an email that the Charleston County School District sent to parents on March 2, 2022. The school district explains in the email that a new survey was given to students in the third grade through the twelfth grade on March 14-15:

In the Fall of 2021, we implemented a Climate Survey to measure the well-being of our students and staff. Students in grades 3-12 and CCSD staff members completed the survey. The results helped us gain insight into the climate of our schools from a student and staff perspective. We will be administering the same survey this Spring in order to see if our strategies have resulted in positive outcomes and continue to provide additional support as needed.

The topics that were featured in the survey included “supportive relationships,” “self-management,” “teacher-student relationships,” “sense of belonging,” and “school climate.” Parents were able to opt their children out of the surveys.

The school district appears to rely on Panorama to survey students. On August 23, 2021, the school district had a draft budget plan for how ESSER funds would be spent. This plan explains that the district will measure “student well-being metrics” with a “Panorama survey in reference to supportive relationships, SEL competencies, student supports, and school environments.” In a document published on June 13, 2022, for a school board meeting, the district explains a goal of having “improved favorable attitude ratings by participating groups (students, parents, faculty, staff, and community partners) toward school support and assistance for students and themselves as measured by school climate surveys and Panorama surveys.”

In the school district’s “Fiscal Year 2018 Budget,” the district requested $5,000 to train teachers to handle Panorama surveys. The district provides the following description for the budget request: “Training for implementation of Behavioral Skills Curriculum and Panorama survey PK – 8th (5 year plan) 50 ‐ 4K classrooms, 7 Elementary schools, 5 middle schools).”

The school district’s website still has a page up for the 2021 “Fall Climate Survey.” This page includes links to survey questions. Several questions are identical to the questions asked in Panorama surveys at other schools.

The following are some questions in the survey for students in the third grade through the fifth grade:

• How positive or negative is the energy of the school?
• How fair or unfair are the rules for the students at this school?
• How much support do the adults at your school give you?
• Do you have a family member or other adult outside of school who you can count on to help you, no matter what?

The following are some questions in the survey for students in the sixth grade through the twelfth grade:

• If you came back to visit class three years from now, how many of your teachers would be excited to see you?
• How positive or negative is the energy of the school?
• How well do people at your school understand you as a person?
• Do you have a teacher or other adult from school who you can be completely yourself around?
• Do you have a family member or other adult outside of school who you can be completely yourself around?

Panorama Education Inc. is an organization known for helping schools throughout the country survey the race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity of students in an effort to push “equity and inclusion” in school systems. The organization offers an “Equity and Inclusion Survey” to “help schools and districts track the progress of equity initiatives through the lens of students and staff, identify areas for celebration and improvement, inform professional development, and signal the importance of equity and inclusion to the community.”

The school district’s strategic plan also promotes using the Second Step program to teach students Social Emotional Learning (SEL). The school district additionally has another document online promoting SEL using the Second Step program and promoting CASEL’s “five core competences.”

Second Step is an organization known for promoting political ideologies in its SEL curricula. Second Step states on its website that the organization is “committed to addressing racial injustice and helping you drive real change in your school communities.” The organization also provides resources for educators to implement equity into the classroom. Two of the resources that Second Step offers are called “Talking to Kids About Racial Identity” and “Starting in the Classroom.”

CASEL is an organization that works with school districts throughout the country to use SEL in an effort to push “equity” and “social justice” in education. On July 1, 2020, CASEL promoted “racial justice” in discussing its roadmap for reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. In explaining the importance of the reopening process for schools, the organization stated that “this moment called on all members of our school communities to deepen our social and emotional competencies and create equitable learning environments where all students and adults process, heal, and thrive.” CASEL also published a video in 2020 titled “SEL As a Lever for Equity and Social Justice.”