Guide

2. What do I do if I’ve forgotten my password?

On the Bento homepage, under the “Log In” button, click on the “I forgot my password” link. The “Reset my password” dialog box will appear. Enter the email address that you used to register for Bento into the text field and click the “Reset” button. Check your email for a link to reset your password. Note: If you cannot see the email in your inbox, please check your spam folder.

3. If I logout, will Bento save my work?

When you logout, Bento will save the last selections you made on the Dashboard and in the Survey Explorer. For example, if you had selected a state on the Dashboard before you logged out, when you return, the Dashboard will stay selected on that state. Your reports are also automatically saved after every change you make. 

4. Is there a way to save my work as I go?

Bento automatically saves your work as you make changes. Each time you make a selection, the data in Bento reloads and your choice is saved.

You can also save individual, customized charts by adding them to a report. See III. How do I add a visualization from the dashboard to a report? and IV. How do I add a survey visualization to a report?

5. Is there a place where I can provide feedback for Bento?

Yes, Bento has a user feedback form. You can reach the Feedback form in two ways: you can select “Feedback” from the top red navigation pane (1) or you can click the hamburger menu in the top left corner (2) and select “Feedback” at the bottom of the sidebar (3).

Once you arrive at the feedback form, enter your comments in the text box (4) and/or select a rating for how likely you are to recommend Bento to a colleague (5). When complete, his “Send” to submit your feedback (6).

If you have questions on how to use the tool that are not answered in this FAQ page, please visit the Training Materials page for additional resources or email bento@mgt.us for assistance.  

1. How do I search for a specific school district?

First select the state on the map where the school district you are interested in is located. Then click the State-District toggle above the map to see the districts that are in the state that you selected (1).

You can then click on a specific district if you know where it is located. Alternatively, you can begin typing the name of the district in the search bar above the map and a list of districts will appear; select the district from the list to select the district and update the associated dashboard data (2).

2. How do I display the data for a specific state on the map?

When you hover over the map or ranking chart, you can see each state’s data for the specific variable displayed.

When you click on a state on the map, it will automatically update the other visualizations on the dashboard with the data from that state.

3. How do I add a visualization from the dashboard to a report?

Click on the three-dotted menu to the upper right corner of a visualization and select “Add to Report" (1).

Select the desired report from the list or add a new report (2) and hit “Add to Report" (3).

4. How do I export visualizations from the dashboard?

Click on the three-dotted menu to the upper right corner of a visualization and select “Export.”

Choose which type of file you would like to export (.csv, .docx, or .pdf) and select “Export.”

5. How do I download data from the Bento dashboard?

You can download a .csv file of the aggregate data that underlies a visualization by following the answer to question #4 (above) and selecting “CSV.” All Dashboard data is publicly available, and data files are available from the individual data sources, as referenced on the Dashboard Methodology page.

6. Which states and districts have data available in the Bento dashboard?

Education outcomes data in Bento is available from the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. Data at the district level is shown, when available, for all Local Education Agencies (LEAs) that provided data in the National Center for Education Statistics’ Common Core of Data. State assessment data is available from select states via the individual state departments of education. For more information about the geographies included, visit the methodology page.

7. Which attributes can I use to filter the data on the dashboard?

Some education outcomes data on the Dashboard’s map and other visualizations can be filtered by ethnicity, English Language Learners (ELL), students with disabilities, and low income students.

To apply a filter, select “Filter” from the left sidebar menu. Select the desired filter from the list of options and the data will automatically update. When you apply a filter on the dashboard, a small filter icon will appear to the left of the visualizations where it has been applied.

For more on filtering, visit the Filter Quick Guide on the Training Materials page.

8. How do I change the colors of the visualizations on the dashboard?

To change the colors of the visualizations, select “Style” from the left sidebar menu. Select the style you wish to apply and the visualizations will automatically be updated.

1. What are the American Educator, Teacher, and School Leader Panels?

The RAND American Educator Panels (AEP) help share the voices of the nation’s teacher and school leaders. The AEP consists of the American Teacher Panel (ATP) and the American School Leader Panel (ASL).

The RAND American Teacher Panel (ATP) is a nationally representative sample of K-12 public school teachers. The panel includes more than 25,000 teachers who respond to several online survey requests each year.

The RAND American School Leader Panel (ASLP) is a nationally representative sample of K-12 public school principals. The panel includes more than 8,000 principals who respond to several online survey requests each year.

For more information about the ATP and ASLP survey panels, visit https://www.rand.org/education-and-labor/projects/aep.html.   

2. What can I say about the representativeness of the American Teacher and American School Leader surveys in a state?

State-level survey data which are representative of teachers and school leaders vary from survey to survey. For complete information on which states have representative data, see the Survey Methodology.

3. What are the American Instructional Resources Survey and Learn Together Survey?

The American Instructional Resources Survey (AIRS) is designed to better understand the use of curricula across America’s K-12 education system and the factors that influence teachers’ selection of specific curricula.

AIRS data is a nationally representative sample for ATP and ASLP. State-level data is representative for teachers in the following states:

Teachers: CA, DE, FL, LA, MA, MS, NE, NM, NY, RI, TN, WI

For more information on the AIRS Surveys, click here.

The Learn Together Survey (LTS) is designed to measure perceptions on a diverse range of education-based topics from teacher preparation to social and emotional learning.

LTS data is a nationally representative sample for ATP and ASLP. State-level data is representative for teachers in the following states:

Teachers: CA, FL, NY, TN, TX

For more information about the LTS Surveys, click here.

4. Which survey data are available in Bento?

Bento survey data is updated regularly, so be sure to check back to see what’s new!

As of December 2020, Bento includes the data from the Spring 2020 COVID-19 Survey of the American Educator Panel (AEP), 2019 and 2020 American Instructional Resources Surveys (AIRS) and Learn Together Surveys (LTS), and 2017 May Survey of the American Teacher Panel (ATP) and American School Leader Panel (ASLP). To learn more about the surveys, visit About Bento.

Researchers looking for .csv or stata files from the AEP Surveys can learn more about RAND’s AEP Data Portal here.

5. Does the Survey Text in Bento reflect what panelists saw during the survey?

No. For some of the questions, we had to shorten the text or include abbreviations in order to fit within the data visualizations and remain legible. If you would like to see the exact text that was shown to panelists, please refer to the PDFs of the survey instruments available on the Methodology: Survey Explorer page. 

6. What does the margin of error indicate when I hover over a visualization?

The margin of error provides the maximum amount by which the sample results (e.g. high school math teachers in Florida who took the survey) are expected to differ from those of the entire selected population (e.g. all high school math teachers in Florida), at a 95% confidence level. For example, if the survey results indicate that 25% of respondents disagree strongly with a given statement, and the margin of error is 2%, the proportion of people in the population who disagree strongly with the statement ranges from 23% to 27%.

To learn more about the margin of error and its importance in analyzing survey results, click here.   

For more information on how the margin of error was calculated in Bento, please visit Bento's Survey Methodology page.

7. How do I add a national or state benchmark to a visualization?

In the upper right corner of a visualization, click on the three-dotted menu and select “Benchmarks.” Select “National” and/or “State” (if applicable) to add the respective benchmark.  

8. How do I add a survey visualization to a report?

Click on the three-dotted menu to the upper right corner of a visualization and select “Add to Report”.

Select the desired report from the list or add a new report and hit “Add to Report”.

9. Why are the N-sizes next to each visualization presented as ranges?

The number of respondents listed as the Sample Size, or N-Size, next to each question refers to the number of panelists who were asked this specific question based on skip logic in the survey and/or the location and attribute filters you selected. This number will update when you add or remove a filter.

The N-sizes are presented as ranges rather than exact counts in order to protect the confidentiality of the survey respondents. The size of the range scales along with the N-size, so that N-sizes up to 200 will show a range of 10, after that they will be 20 observations wide until 500, and 50 observations wide thereafter.

10. How can I view survey results for a specific state?

Select “Filter” on the left sidebar menu and then select “Add new filter”. Select “Filter by Location”, and then select the state from the list and hit “Apply”.

1. Can I share a report with another Bento user?

Yes, there are two ways to share a report with another user.

The first method to share a report starts within a report. When you are viewing a report, select “Report Options” from the left sidebar menu (1) and then click “Share Link” (2).

A notification box will appear in the right-hand corner of the page with a link (3). Click on the button that says “copy link to clipboard” and the link will be copied to your clipboard. You can now paste this link in message to send it to a colleague. You can also directly copy the link listed in the notification to open the report in a new tab.

The second way for users to share reports is from the “Reports” page (1). When you are on the “My Reports” page, you can select the three-dotted menu on the top-right corner of the report you wish to share (2). Then select “Share Link” (3).

A notification box will appear in the right-hand corner of the page with a link. Click on the button that says “copy link to clipboard” (4) and the link will be copied to your clipboard. You can now paste this link in message to send it to a colleague. You can also directly copy the link listed in the notification to open the report in a new tab.

2. How do I remove a visualization from a report?

When you are viewing a report, click on the three-dotted menu in the upper right-hand corner of a visualization and select “Remove”.

3. Can I edit a visualization after it has been added to a report?

You are not able to edit a visualization after it has been added to a report. If you’d like to make any changes to a visualization, delete the current visualization from a report. Then return to the Survey Explorer page and find the visualization you’re interested in and make the necessary edits, such as applying any filters or segments or changing the chart type or style of the visualization.

Once you are satisfied with the edited visualization, select the three-dotted menu in the upper right-hand corner of the visualization and click add to a report.

4. How can I look at dashboard data and survey data at the same time?

There are two ways for users to look at dashboard and survey data at the same time:

The first method is by creating a report that includes both visualizations from the dashboard and visualizations from the Survey Explorer. See question 3.3 for how to add a visualization from the dashboard. See question 4.8 for how to add a visualization from the Survey Explorer.

You can also view some survey questions on the Dashboard itself. If you navigate to the Dashboard, you can see a survey question visualization in the lower right-hand corner. You can change this visualization to the question you are most interested in viewing in conjunction with others visualizations on the dashboard.