Leading With a Sense of Wonder: How NMPED Empowers Farmington Municipal Schools to Create Safe, Supportive Communities

The ability to demonstrate Farmington’s strategic plan—particularly their commitment to fostering a safe, supportive, and collaborative culture—has been a significant benefit of partnering with Panorama for feedback surveys.

“We have eight indicators within the first level of our strategic plan,” says Nathan Pierantoni, Executive Director of Support Services at Farmington. “The first is faculty perceptions of their school environment as safe, supportive, and orderly. The second is student, family, and community perceptions of the school environment as safe, supportive, and orderly. Now, with Panorama, we can collect meaningful, actionable data on those indicators.”

Districts like Farmington can collect community feedback at scale with Panorama Surveys

Panorama has revolutionized how Farmington collects and analyzes community feedback, enabling them to triangulate data effectively to support their goals of creating safe and supportive schools. For instance, this data drives Farmington’s dedication to addressing absenteeism, which research closely links to students’ sense of belonging.

“In order to triangulate those data points, we set the expectation that each school would develop a culture goal based on sense of belonging and chronic absenteeism data,” Pierantoni explains. “We used that sense of belonging marker—from Panorama data—as one of our key progress indicators. By analyzing monthly chronic absenteeism rates alongside sense of belonging data, our intention is to gauge whether our efforts were making a difference.”

This level of data visibility now drives strategic planning improvements across the district and within individual schools.

“Panorama Surveys fit right into our strategic plan as a really powerful set of data. It gave our schools what they needed to gather and act on data,” says Emerson. 

Results

“Viewing this data is about leading with a sense of wonder,” says Dr. Soña Saiz, Behavioral Health Manager at NMPED’s Department of Safe and Healthy Schools. “We need to seek to understand instead of feeling defensive.”

This ethos has become deeply ingrained in Farmington’s approach to viewing—and acting on—data from Panorama Surveys. The district has cultivated a culture of data-sharing, bringing together Impact Teams, a District Equity Council, and Student Equity Councils to make data-informed decisions about school improvement.

“Our Impact Teams meet on a monthly basis to examine specific indicators—they discuss challenges, opportunities, and outcomes,” Emerson explains. “That’s where Panorama data becomes invaluable. When they discuss particular indicators, they’re engaging in data-driven conversations based on Panorama Surveys results. Principals tell us they hate missing those meetings because they value the collaboration it fosters.”

District and Student Equity Councils

Another team that has greatly benefited from Panorama data is Farmington’s District Equity Council. This council has been active for several years, with the more recent goals of promoting culturally and linguistically relevant (CLR) instruction and enhancing students’ sense of belonging. While the council had long recognized the need to boost progress toward CLRI based on qualitative student feedback, it was the introduction of Panorama data that enabled them to make critical, data-informed decisions.

“When Panorama came into the picture, it was like bingo! That’s what we need to measure our progress toward creating CLRI and boosting sense of belonging,” says Pierantoni. “We also established Student Equity Councils, which brought together students, educators, and administrators. These councils aim to increase inclusivity at the school level.”

Pierantoni notes that more and more principals began expressing interest in these councils. By Spring 2024, the interest had grown so much that Farmington officially launched eight Student Equity Councils throughout the district.

“With Panorama data in hand, we could see how students responded in terms of safety, connectedness, and other key aspects of their experience. We shared that data with teachers and encouraged them to collaborate with students to address these challenges,” Pierantoni says. “Now, we have two high schools, two middle schools, and three elementary schools where students and teachers are working together, using Panorama data to enhance the experience for all students.”

A 15% Increase in Sense of Belonging at Apache Elementary School

This real-time, actionable data is already making a difference at schools like Apache Elementary, which saw a remarkable 15% increase in students' sense of belonging.

“Apache Elementary ran an experiment. At the beginning of each day, they offered clubs and activities that students could participate in,” Emerson shares. “Originally, they thought of this as a way to reduce tardiness and increase attendance. But it also had the added benefit of boosting students' sense of belonging because they deliberately created activities that connected students to teachers and school.” 

Panorama Student Survey (demo data displayed)

What Gets Measured Gets Done

Farmington considers student perception data just as important as academic achievement data. In fact, they regularly integrate this data into conversations with school and district leaders.

“Each quarter, we review academic performance data—and then we flip the page to see what students are saying about their school,” says Pierantoni. “We share that feedback with teachers and develop data-informed solutions. Our entire strategic plan is built around creating safe, supportive, and collaborative environments. So clearly defining that requires gathering data on how teachers, students, and families feel about our schools.”

The commitment to perception data extends to the entire Farmington community, including the school board. Pierantoni notes that the Board is just as interested in Panorama data as they are in academic achievement data, underscoring the integral role Panorama Surveys play in Farmington’s strategic planning.

Next Steps: A Perspective from the New Mexico Public Education Department

"I am thoroughly impressed with Farmington District's use of the survey data," says Saiz. "They speak of being 'primed and ready,' which I believe has been key to their success in leveraging survey data and engaging the community."

Saiz highlights Farmington as a model for how specific survey data can effectively address district-wide challenges. "I see them as 'sense of belonging' champions, given how they are using this data point to meet both attendance/engagement and CLRI goals," she says.

As NMPED's relationship with Panorama evolves, Saiz is eager to continue supporting the efforts of districts like Farmington. She envisions future conversations with LEAs that emphasize survey readiness and explore how survey data can be harnessed to bolster school and district plans or initiatives. Moreover, she is excited about the potential for Panorama to further empower schools and districts by expanding staff access to survey data—an element that has been central to Farmington's remarkable progress over the past year.

"Using Panorama Surveys was the next step in Farmington's strategic plan," Saiz reflects. "And the implementation was strengthened by committed district leaders who were determined to use survey data to improve conditions for all members of the community."