School Report Cards

States must issue report cards to show parents which schools and districts are succeeding and why. But these report cards are often very difficult to understand and track, especially if you don't know what a particular test grade for a school or district means. While it's ok and possibly helpful to review these if you have access to the web, we'd recommend that you spend your time instead asking specific questions of your school about how they are ranked.

World Wide Web

These rankings are typically found on the web, which you can access in your library if you don't have internet access at home or work. Check out CER's School Report Cards State-by-State page for links to a number of different resources for report cards on your school, district and state.

Report cards are supposed to contain information about the following:

• comparisons of how well your students do compared to others in the state, broken down by grade level, race, economic status, etc.
• high school graduate rates (how many students drop out)
• number and names of schools identified for improvement
• qualifications of teachers

Newspapers

The newspapers are following closely the progress being made in your schools. While few parents have time to read the papers every day, your library can help.

Ask the School

The schools know where they fall on the lists. You can and should talk to them about where the school is on the various report cards. You can expect that they will be honest, but not always happy about the label. Let them know you care but that you need to know as a parent how best to educate your child.