his team talked to other districts across the Panorama network. They came up with a couple of recommendations: teachers could take attendance out loud, instead of silently checking off names, and teachers could meet as a group and try to institute a buddy system for each student.
One of the next steps for Panorama is to facilitate more sharing of ideas across schools and districts. “Every school has problems. But there are so many schools in this country,” Feuer says, that for almost any given issue, “someone has tried something that works.”
Panorama has been compiling national benchmarks from its data. Using such tools, Feuer says, a school might conclude that it’s above average on engaging families, say, but below average on providing professional development for its teachers and getting students to do their homework in a quiet place.
In May, Panorama released a new, in-depth teacher survey with questions about 14 key topics, including professional feedback and coaching, faculty and student growth potential, school leadership, staff-leadership relationships, and teacher-family relationships. The company has been working with specialists in psychology and education to craft the right set of questions. (There are limitations to survey-based data, of course, but until wearable sensors track all of our kids’ and teachers’ interactions—see a company like Humanyze for the corporate equivalent—educators will have to make do.)
It’s all part of Panorama’s plan to become the go-to source for K-12 education data and analytics. The next goal, beyond helping schools and districts understand their strengths and weaknesses, is to help administrators act on the data. The idea is to say, “These are things you might consider trying if you want to get better,” Feuer says. “We can give you 10 ideas you could try.”
(Photo by Wade Roush)
Feuer’s own education is a product of the Los Angeles public schools and Yale University. His outlook is an upbeat mix of realism and idealism, and unlike a lot of startup CEOs, he’ll say what he thinks. Along with co-founders Xan Tanner and David Carel, he started Panorama Education in 2012 while still an undergrad at Yale (something he doesn’t recommend doing).
The company’s steady progress runs counter to the oft-heard refrain that it’s hard to sell software to school districts. Feuer notes that getting the right product-market fit is key for any edtech startup, along with building the right relationships.
Indeed, it appears Panorama has made the leap from early-stage startup to a real business—though it will undoubtedly face new challenges as it grows. The competitive landscape includes education companies such as Tripod, LearnSprout, and My Student Survey. But as the quality of education data improves, and as policy makers and educators increasingly use metrics to assess schools and teachers, look for more tech companies to jump into the sector.
That means Panorama’s opportunity, for one, should continue to grow. “It’s very serious and very real right now,” Feuer says.
