By: Victoria Hammer, Ph.D., Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
More than 50 years of research indicates that family engagement is one of the most powerful predictors of a child’s development, educational attainment, and success in school and life.
Timely, accurate, and complete information and data about the quality of public education is vital to supporting active participation in student learning. The state and local report cards required under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) help ensure local educational agencies (LEAs), parents, families, educators, and communities have access to this information in a common framework for understanding educational progress and success. To support use of these report cards, the U.S. Department of Education (The Department) recently issued guidance based on a review of the key requirement to prepare and widely share report cards that provide information on state, LEA, and school performance and progress in an understandable, uniform format.
State and local report cards must include a wide range of school performance indicators, including statewide assessment results; graduation rates; measures of school quality, climate, and safety such as rates of chronic absenteeism and participation in advanced or accelerated coursework; per-pupil expenditures; and the professional qualifications of teachers in the state overall and by high- and low-poverty schools. Much of this information must be reported for both all students in a school as well as individual student groups.
Given the amount of information required, these report cards can get very busy very fast. We recognize the challenge of navigating this rich source of information and embrace the opportunity to share what we have learned by working alongside our state grantees and other partners. Below, we summarize our recommendations for how states can facilitate greater engagement with and use of this critical resource.
· Publish report cards in a timely manner: Beginning a new school year with timely information about school progress positions parents and families to participate in informed, targeted conversations.
· Improve translation features: Ensuring all parents have access to report card information and data demonstrates an active commitment to transparency, and states can underscore this commitment by translating report cards in the state’s most common languages.
· Use visualization tools and graphics: Including data visualizations on an interactive platform that allows users to see high-level data and click through to access additional information can accommodate a variety of learning styles.
· Be transparent about privacy protections: Ensuring protections for personally identifiable information on report cards is essential, and being transparent about the limitations of information on report cards can support greater understanding and use.
· Regularly engage in meaningful discussions with diverse stakeholders: Engaging the whole education community in continuous improvement of state and local report cards and recognizing that different stakeholders view report card data for different reasons, signals that education stakeholders must work together to support a high-quality education for all students.
While states, communities, and schools continue the hard work of bringing student learning back to and beyond pre-pandemic levels, family engagement is more important than ever. Make sure to inquire at your school, including during back-to-school nights and parent-teacher conferences, if you are not familiar with how to locate your state and local ESEA report cards.
We wish you and your students the very best in this new school year.
