Our schools measure our kids, but who measures our schools? A new tool from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation will help parents evaluate how their school measures against other schools in the state. The Report Card on Washington State’s Elementary Schools 2009 is available at www.reportcardwa.com. From the press release:
The Report Card rates and ranks 1,130 public elementary schools in Washington state. A Report Card covering secondary schools will be introduced this fall.
The Report Card collects a variety of relevant, objective indicators of school performance into one, easily accessible public document so that anyone can analyze and compare the performance of individual schools. By doing so, the Report Card assists parents when they choose a school for their children and encourages and assists all those seeking to improve their schools.
Results from the Report Card are based on five years of Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores. Using a statistical model developed by the Vancouver, B.C.-based Fraser Institute, the Report Card determined annual overall ratings on a scale of zero to ten accompanied by performance trends for schools that show statistically significant improvement or decline.
This model was created ten-years ago when the Fraser Institute first published the reports. Since then parents in five Canadian provinces, including British Columbia and Ontario, have come to rely on their annual publication for truthful, objective, and non-anecdotal information on school performance. Their annual launch is a major media event in the affected provinces.
Analyzing Washington state’s Report Card is eye-opening. The statewide average on the zero to ten scale is six, with some schools scoring a ten. Others come in at zero.
“The Report Card is filled with surprises,” said Education Analyst Diana Cieslak. “Defying stereotypes, student populations given up for lost are flying under the radar and outperforming the state average—we call them ‘Cinderella schools.’”
Others fall below state expectations—their story needs to be told, too.
The Report Card is unique because the objective conclusions it provides gives parents and educators the ability to hold schools accountable. Families will be empowered with crucial information about their child’s school so they can pursue the best options available. Educators and policy-makers can identify successful schools in order to replicate their success.
The information gathered and reported does not reveal everything important about a school or the additional valuable things students may be learning inside its walls. “The Report Card can direct us to the schools that are achieving the goal of student literacy and allow us to look at the common threads that run through them,” said Peter Cowley, original developer of the Report Cards and Director of School Performance Studies at the Fraser Institute. “Helping students become literate and proficient in the basics is necessary for a well-rounded life.”
The Report Card is released on the heels of a significant education reform bill passed by the 2009 Legislature in an attempt to solve what ails public education. Unfortunately but typically, the information lawmakers used was often anecdotal.
“Before legislators make decisions about how to reform education, they ought to take a few field trips to schools where educators are making it work,” said Lynn Harsh, Chief Executive Officer at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution. And more money by itself won’t solve the problem. The experts guiding the state’s decisions should be the educators whose students are shining examples of success. These are the schools whose phones should be ringing off the hook with policymakers asking, ‘How are you doing it?’”
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