What is the School Report Card?

The Report Card is a website that offers reliable—and readable—information on every public school in the state of Washington! Based on data direct from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, its easy-to-read tables allow readers to compare school performance, identify examples of successful schools and start asking meaningful questions about what needs to be done to give our children the opportunities they deserve.

 Giving only straight numbers and hard facts, the Report Card is designed to put public information about public schools into the people who have the most invested: the public.

Last but not least, the Report Card isn’t a snapshot. Complete with five years of data, statistically significant trends, and a 0-10 rating for every public school in the state, you’ll be able to find out how your school is really doing.

For more details on the Report Card and its features, scroll down for discussions of the following questions:

• Why rank schools?
• Why compare schools?
• Why not factor in poverty and diversity when ranking and rating schools?
• What makes this report any different from what's already available?
• Why don't the authors make suggestions for how to improve the system?
• Why provide demographic information? 

 Why rank schools?

The act of publicly rating and ranking schools attracts attention, and this can provide motivation. Schools that perform well or show consistent improvement are applauded. Poorly performing schools generate concern, as do those whose performance is deteriorating. This inevitable attention provides an incentive for all those connected with a school to focus on student results.

However, the Report Card offers more than just incentive. It includes a variety of indicators, each of which reports results for an aspect of school performance that may be improved. School administrators who are dedicated to their students’ academic success accept the Report Card’s rankings and ratings as another source of opportunity for improvement. School administrators who resist change and would rather settle for a substandard status quo will deny the value of the ranking system and rejects its merits.

Why is comparison valuable?

By comparing a school's latest results with those of earlier years, we can see if the school is improving. By comparing a school's results with those of neighboring schools or schools having similar school and student characteristics, we can identify more successful schools and learn from them. Reference to statewide results places an individual school's level of achievement in a broader context.

There is great benefit in identifying schools that are particularly effective. By studying the techniques used in schools where students are successful, less effective schools may find ways to improve. This advantage is not lost on the United Kingdom's Department of Education and Skills. Its "Leading Edge" program helps educators connect with others who have expertise in particular areas of instruction and school administration.

Comparisons are at the heart of improvement: comparing schools is simpler and more meaningful because of the Report Card's indicators, ratings, and rankings.

Why not factor in poverty and diversity when ranking and rating schools?

 Historically, students coming from low-income and ethnically diverse areas are expected to have poorer academic performance than their more affluent peers. If this were true, it would only be fair to take such conditions into account when ranking and rating schools. Yet, the results published in the Report Card indicate that low-income and diverse schools are more than capable of competing academically; often, low expectations are the culprit for lack of achievement.

Undoubtedly, some personal and family characteristics, left unmitigated, can have a deleterious effect on a student's academic development. The Report Card provides evidence that successful teachers overcome such impediments. By comparing the results of low-income and non-low-income students in two subject areas -- reading and mathematics -- in which one group or the other may have enjoyed an historical advantage, we are able to gauge the extent to which schools provide effective teaching to all of their students.

The Low-income gap indicators -- in the tables Low-income gap (level) -- use the grade-5 results of the WASL assessments to determine how successful the school has been in narrowing the achievement gap between low-income and non-low-income students in reading and mathematics.

To improve a school, one must believe that improvement is achievable. This Report Card provides evidence about what can be accomplished. It demonstrates clearly that, even when we take into account factors such as the students' family background -- which some believe dictate the degree of academic success that students can enjoy in school -- some schools do better than others. The data consistently suggest that what goes on in schools makes a difference to academic results and that some schools make a greater difference than others.

Why provide demographic information?

Demographics are a regular feature of school performance discussion. This being the case, race and income data are provided in the Report Card, though they do not factor into a school's rating or ranking. (See above for an explanation of why allowances are not made for poverty or racial diversity.)