Naperville Community Unit School District 203 is paying Panorama Education over $270,000 for surveys and services

Parents Defending Education submitted a public records request to the Naperville Community Unit School District 203 seeking contracts with Panorama Education and Panorama surveys provided to students, staff, and families. PDE received several contracts between the district and Panorama dating back to 2022.

The first contract is dated July 1, 2022. It included “student surveys,” “teacher and staff surveys,” “intervention tracking,” and “professional development.” The school district paid Panorama $63,000 for the company’s services over the next year. The next contract PDE received is dated July 1, 2023. This contract also included “student surveys,” “teacher and staff surveys,” “intervention tracking,” and “professional development.” The school district paid Panorama $63,000 for the company’s services over the next year.

The third contract is dated July 1, 2024, and is for a term of three years ending on June 30, 2027. This contract includes “student surveys,” “teacher and staff surveys,” and “professional development.” The contract is for $48,984 per year and $146,952 for the whole three years.

PDE also received questions from Panorama surveys that were provided to students and staff. These questions appear to focus on the race and identities of students. Questions for students include:

• How often do teachers encourage you to learn about people from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?
• How often do you spend time at school with students from different races, ethnicities, or cultures?
• How often do you have classes with students from different racial, ethnic, or cultural backgrounds?
• At your school, how often do students from different races, ethnicities, or cultures hang out with each other?
• At your school, how common is it for students to have close friends from different racial, ethnic, or cultural backgrounds?
• How often do you think about what someone of a different race, ethnicity, or culture experiences?
• How confident are you that students at your school can have honest conversations with each other about race?
• At your school, how often are you encouraged to think more deeply about race-related topics?
• How comfortable are you sharing your thoughts about race-related topics with other students at your school?
• How often do students at your school have important conversations about race, even when they might be uncomfortable?
• How well does your school help students speak out against racism?
• What is the most important thing your school can keep doing to support students of different races, ethnicities, and cultures?

Questions for staff include:

• How often do you think about what colleagues of different races, ethnicities, or cultures experience?
• How confident are you that adults at your school can have honest conversations with each other about race?
• At your school, how often are you encouraged to think more deeply about race-related topics?
• How comfortable are you discussing race-related topics with your colleagues?
• How often do adults at your school have important conversations about race, even when they might be uncomfortable?
• When there are major news events related to race, how often do adults at your school talk about them with each other?
• How well does your school help staff speak out against racism?
• At your school, how valuable are the equity-focused professional development opportunities?
• When it comes to promoting culturally responsive practices, how helpful are your colleagues’ ideas for improving your practice?
• How often do professional development opportunities help you explore new ways to promote equity in your practice?
• Overall, how effective has your school administration been in helping you advance student equity?
• How can school leaders help you better learn about, discuss, and confront issues of race, ethnicity, and culture?