Action Opportunities for Community Leaders

It makes sense that citizens want to know whether our nation’s public schools are doing a good job. This is true of community members who typically want to know how good their schools are and the results of the taxes they pay. Annual state and school district report cards can be powerful accountability tools to provide this information if used appropriately. Knowing how to access, use, and understand data are essential skills for improving schools and engaging the community. Data can:
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 Help communities vision patterns and trends in school systems related to funding, achievement, teacher quality, curriculum and programs, and school building modernization
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 Help communities understand the data so they can clearly see the ways in which some groups receive inferior schooling
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 Promote the tasks of identifying, analyzing, and using critical information to uncover issues of race, inequalities and exclusion
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 Bring together organizations and people who represent the diversity of a community using them to engage in discussions about school improvement, public responsibility for schools, and planning for next steps
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 Get the community to understand that they have a role to play in knowing the school data, and promoting quality public schools, even though they may not have children in school
The purpose of the report card information is NOT to punish public schools, but should be used to stimulate improvements in those schools that have been identified as not meeting expectations.
NCLB relies heavily on test scores to evaluate how well schools and school districts are performing—but more than a single test is required to provide a broad range of evidence and data so that communities are able to draw conclusions and recommend solutions on the basis of accurate information. Remember, the NCLB state accountability systems are NOT designed to measure individual student performance, but to determine if individual school districts and schools, and groups of students within the school district and schools, have met the AYP expectations as established by the state.
   
Community leaders should encourage their members to do the following:
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 Because the law is silent on how and to whom state report cards should be distributed, community leaders must make sure the information is widely distributed. Learn your states intentions. If the state does not plan to distribute the report card widely, implement plans yourself to disseminate the information to the community.
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 Make sure the community has input on the format, languages, and presentation on the state, district and school report cards so that lay audiences, media representatives, and elected officials can understand the information.
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 Because a single test should not and cannot provide the total picture about school district and individual school quality community leaders should make sure the report card includes other appropriate information about the state, district and individual schools besides test scores including:
 
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 Attendance rates
 
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 Mobility rates, or the percentage of students who move into or out of a school or district every year
 
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 Per student funding
 
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 Discipline referrals and other safety measures
 
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 Percentage of parents involved in the school
 
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 Percentage of high school students enrolled in advance courses such as Advanced Placement, advanced algebra, and International Baccalaureate
 
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 Dropout rates, or percentage of high school students who drop out of school before they graduate
 
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 Graduation rates, or percentage of 18-24 year-olds who are out of school and hold high school diplomas
 
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 Student-to-teacher ratios
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 Educate the community about the NCLB accountability and state mandated testing system.
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 What tests are being administered to students? Is the test useful in determining school performance and quality? Is the test aligned with the state standards? Does the test provide descriptive information that teachers, parents and the community can draw on to help them determine which areas of the school district program is strong and which areas require improvement.
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 Upon release of the state and local report cards, host community meetings to analyze the information and interpret the data for school improvement. Are the data valid? Is it backed by multiple measures? Can community members interpret and understand the data?
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 Seek second or third opinions from testing and assessment experts when major differences arise about the meaning of state and local report cards.
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 Work with the media to help them understand the report card data and how the data can increase opportunities for students and schools.
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 Sponsor workshops for parents on how to use the data to improve schools and recognize schools that are not doing well. Help parents learn what the data means, what additional kinds of data are required to get a complete picture of school quality, and what constitutes the uses and limitations of achievement measures.
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 Provide help for community members and parents in understanding that states and school districts may use tests that are inappropriate in evaluating the quality of schools. Tests that are intended to measure individual student performance rarely are appropriate for evaluating the quality of a school. Work with parents and the community in explaining the various uses of tests. For instance, nationally standardized achievement tests such as the California Achievement Tests, the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (now known as Terra Nova), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the Metropolitan Achievement Tests, and the Stanford Achievement Tests. While these tests have been well researched and widely used, they were never intended to be used to evaluate schools.
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 Ensure that the indicators being included in the report card are meaningful in the context of true accountability.
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 Find out if the SEA/LEA has a communications plan in place early, in order that officials are prepared to disseminate information effectively about the reports cards and are prepared to discuss results.
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 Ensure that the SEA/LEA understands that the public wants to know more than just test scores and that they understand that the community is interested in things like discipline statistics, safety, staffing, average number of years experience of teachers, teacher retention rates, teacher career ladder status, average professional salary, etc.
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 Encourage your SEA/LEA to invest in a smart design for the report cards. Work with them to make it appealing to the eye and one that includes short narrative explanations of the data, in order that the public will be better able to put the information into context.
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 Suggest that the report cards include suggestions on how the data can be used to help schools improve.
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 Ensure that the SEA and LEA periodically reviews the indicators used in the report cards for validity.
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 Ensure that if the report cards are available on line that they do not only include selected information, and does show all of the SEAs available data.