Parents have noticed a steep rise in the frequency and intrusive nature of surveys given to their children at school. Schools are increasingly sacrificing time spent on academic subjects to accommodate the time required to administer student surveys. The justification by school officials usually includes something about “diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, antiracism, social emotional learning and/or school climate.”
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Surveys in Schools 101
Parents have noticed a steep rise in the frequency and intrusive nature of surveys given to their children at school. Schools are increasingly sacrificing time spent on academic subjects to…
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List of Surveys in Schools
Below you’ll find a list of federal and state sponsored surveys that are offered to school districts, requirement varies depending on the state. The timing of when these surveys are…
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Opting Out
What does it mean to opt out? Do parents have a right to opt children out of aspects of school? What is the process to opt out? What are my…
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Writing an Opt-Out Letter to Your Child’s Private School
Opting out means formally letting your child’s school know what you don’t want your child to participate in while they are at school. Sex ed/health instruction is the most common subject that…
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The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA): A Toolkit for Parents
As the Supreme Court has repeatedly said, parents have the ultimate authority over their children’s education. And yet schools often ignore parents’ rights. School systems, administrators, and teachers often treat parents…
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PDE Live: Surveys & Opting Out
This livestream focuses on the incredibly invasive surveys given to students in school. What these surveys ask your child may shock you. Parents Defending Education Director of Community Engagement, Mailyn…
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Opt-In vs. Opt-Out
Passive vs. Active Parental Consent K–12 school districts are increasingly administering deeply personal surveys that question students about everything from sexual orientation and gender identity to thoughts of suicide.
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Incidents
Durango School District 9-R plans to provide survey to students with controversial questions on short notice
Concerned community members reached out to Parents Defending Education regarding a survey that Durango School District 9-R plans to provide to students on May 3, 2023. Parents were provided the…
Incidents
New Orleans Public Schools Partnered With Consultant ‘Beloved Community’ for a District-Wide Racial Equity Project
In November 2020, New Orleans Public Schools partnered with Beloved Community for a “District Wide Racial Equity Project.” According to the NOLA Public Schools website, the…
Incidents
Council Bluffs Community School District Used CASEL’s Social Emotional Learning Framework and Panorama Student Surveys
Council Bluffs Community School District in Council Bluffs, Iowa, used Panorama Student Surveys in 2017 as part of their CASEL Social Emotional Learning initiative. Social Emotional Learning continues today in…
Incidents
Durango School District 9-R announces new survey for students
On October 26, 2022, Durango School District 9-R sent an email to parents announcing that the district “will be launching a District-aligned social and behavioral skills survey via Abre”…
Incidents
Teachers in Ardsley Union Free School District hand out back-to-school surveys asking students about their preferred names/pronouns and whether they can be used when talking to parents
Students across Ardsley Union Free School District recently received back-to-school surveys that included questions about preferred names and pronouns and whether teachers/staff “can” use those names and pronouns when communicating…
Incidents
Teachers in Cedar Rapids Community School District administer back-to-school surveys asking students about their preferred names/pronouns and whether they can be used when talking to parents
On September 1, 2022 students in Cedar Rapids Community School District were given an introductory questionnaire that included questions about preferred name and pronouns and whether teachers/staff “can” use…
Incidents
Middle School teacher in Groton-Dunstable Schools asks students if she should refer to them by a different name when talking to their parents
An 8th grade teacher in the Groton-Dunstable Regional Middle School in Massachusetts administered a survey on the first day of school that asked students what name and pronouns they wanted…
Incidents
Hawai’i Department of Education contracts with Panorama Education for $1,391,356.65 for the 2022-2023 school year.
In July of 2022, the State of Hawai’i Department of Education renewed its contracts with Panorama Education to provide and administer “a student social emotional learning survey and dashboard”…
Incidents
Clark County School District agrees to $785,999 contract with Panorama
A member of the parental rights organization “For The Children of CCSD” provided Parents Defending Education with a contract between the Clark County School District and Panorama Education Inc. The…
Incidents
Survey given in Berner Middle School asks students if they are “transgender” or “non-binary”
A concerned community member provided Parents Defending Education with a survey given to seventh grade students in Berner Middle School in Massapequa Union Free School District #23. The purpose…
Incidents
Walpole Schools administer “equity survey”; parents say they had no idea until their children were placed into focus groups
Walpole Public Schools brought in outside consultant, Mass Insight, to conduct an equity audit for the district. This decision was communicated in the superintendent’s report at a school…
Incidents
Poly Prep Country Day School administers 62-page “DEIB Climate Survey” which garners parent outrage and a retraction
After administering 62-page “DEIB Climate Survey” to students in grades 5-12 which included questions about sexual identity/orientation, political affiliation, mental health, parent income, disability status, and personal beliefs about concepts…
Incidents
Students given highly invasive survey on “adverse childhood experiences” in summer school class
Students in a summer school class at Francis Howell High School in Saint Charles, Missouri were given a survey to determine their ACE Score. ACE stands for “Adverse Childhood…
Incidents
Cedar Grove Schools gives survey to students asking about their gender identity; school board blocks parents from speaking on the issue
On July 6, 2021, parents in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, “filed a petition of appeal with the New Jersey Department of Education, Office of Controversies and Disputes” regarding a survey…
Incidents
Barrington Schools send home last minute communication about Panorama surveys with NO MENTION of parents’ right under federal law to opt out
Rhode Island is one of the states that has contracted with Panorama Education Inc. to administer student and family surveys in every school district. Each district is responsible for sending…
Incidents
Savannah-Chatham County Public School System Pays over $95,000 to Panorama Education For SEL Surveys
The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System has announced that they will begin using controversial Panorama Education surveys for students and staff in the district. The District states the surveys…
Incidents
Investigations
Panorama Education Inc.
What is Panorama Education Inc.? In an article in February 2013, Yale student Aaron Feuer described his decision to create Panorama Education. The article described the organization…
Consultants
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FOX NEWS: Boston middle school survey asking students about oral sex, transgenderism prompts parents’ outrage
‘Parents had no idea these questions would be asked,’ says mother of Eliot K-8 Innovation School student…
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BREITBART: Parents Defending Education: Colorado High School Students Asked About Sexual Orientation Without Parents’ Knowledge
Students at Fort Collins High School in Colorado were asked about their sexual orientation and preferred pronouns in a survey about which parents were not notified, Parents Defending Education (PDE)…
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LIFESITE NEWS: DC schools survey asks 11-year-olds about their ‘sexual identity’ and ‘transgender’ status
D.C. Public Schools have been asking students about their sexual and gender identity since at least 2018, with a survey issued by the company of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s son-in-law.
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NATIONAL REVIEW: Why Are Schools Asking Children about Their Sexual Histories?
School surveys have become another means of indoctrination. Parents are right to push back.
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FOX NEWS: Database reveals school surveys asking students about gender identity, drugs, suicide
A survey available to schools in Kansas asked children as young as in sixth grade about suicide…
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DAILY CALLER: New York City Prep School Tosses 62-Page ‘Unreliable’ Climate Survey After Parent Backlash
An elite New York City prep school administered, and then retracted, a controversial 62-page diversity “climate survey” to students in grades 5-12, according to emails obtained by a concerned parents…
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