School Reports

From a District document on school reports:
The first annual school reports will be released by Seattle Public Schools (SPS) on November 9th 2010, which will provide a snapshot of school performance on common academic measures. SPS wants parents, students, and the community to know how each individual school is doing – from test scores to absence rates to student proficiency – so we all can learn from and act on the information to make our schools better.

In order to ensure excellence for all, the district needs to know how each school is currently performing and make improvement plans based upon that information. To be successful, we will need the community’s help. These school reports, which will be released annually, are meant to kick-off an ongoing community conversation about what needs to be done to make our schools better.

At the school level, the new performance data and the district’s improvement plans will help leaders focus on what is working well in schools, identify areas that need additional support, and guide how the district responds to those needs. Schools that are excelling for all students will be recognized; schools not making performance gains will receive focused support, resources, and interventions.

School report cards will be available November 9th. Look for upcoming regional meetings to announce the school reports, what the school district is doing to address needed changes and ways you can help.
The District says that school reports are an important performance management tool. Is that their function? Are they intended primarily as an internal document for performance management purposes, or are they intended as an external document to describe school quality to families?

What will the new school reports show that the current school annual reports don't show? Why did the District choose the metrics on this report as the measures of school quality? How would YOU measure school quality?

Comments

seattle citizen said…
Will these be published with the District Reports, the ones they are required/pledged to make but don't? How refreshing!
10/5/10, 4:46 PM
deteechur said…
http://www.seattlewea.org/static_content/certcontract2013.pdf

See Page 76, Number 3.

SECTION G: SPECIAL STAFFING ISSUES AT SCHOOLS REQUIRING SPS INTERVENTION
1. SPS may choose to intervene in a school that has remained in the lowest performance level over the course of three years.

2. By January 31, SPS will notify schools for which there will be an intervention the following school year. If the intervention requires staff to meet new expectations, these expectations will be shared with current staff by February 15. In such cases, SPS will require existing staff to decide by March 15 of the current school year if they wish to remain in the school.

3. Staff members who remain at the schools requiring special intervention must commit to make any adjustment in curriculum or instruction as required by SPS and reflected in the CSIP adopted for the following academic year.
10/5/10, 4:59 PM
Central Mom said…
Forget about how we would measure school quality. I'd like to know how we the public are to measure the believability that the District wants to have a conversation with us.

My guess is the talk will be one-way and that the suggested "fixes" to the "problems" are already in the can down at JSCEE.

What guarantee can the district give us to prove this is not so, and that parents actually CAN do some shaping and prioritizing of issues at their schools and at the policy level.

I'd like to see that promise. In writing. Before we are asked for our "valuable input".
10/5/10, 9:57 PM
The First Arnold said…
Remember, voting NO on the Levy will curtail District's ability to implement such a plan.

The public CAN have an influence.
10/5/10, 10:51 PM
Charlie Mas said…
The District was supposed to roll out the school reports today. So where are they?
10/6/10, 11:57 PM
Charlie Mas said…
The District now says that School report cards will be available November 9th.
10/7/10, 11:05 AM
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