If you’ve spent any time looking at public schools in your area, you’ve likely come across your state’s school performance reports. Maybe your state gives schools an A-F grade or provides you with a snapshot of the school’s achievement. Or perhaps you’ve spent some time on GreatSchools.org or Niche.com. Once you start going down this rabbit hole, it can feel very overwhelming but what’s more concerning is: are these school performance measures and school rankings actually leading you astray?
What data is used for school performance grades?
The majority of school performance grades are calculated using some combination of standardized test achievement scores, growth scores (showing how much a student progressed on that standardized test from the previous year), and graduation rates. At first glance, this might seem OK to you. However, there’s a lot more to this picture and that begins with understanding the role and limitation of standardized testing to begin with.
Standardized tests aren’t showing what you think
As we covered in this article, the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) mandated annual standardized tests in reading and math for students in grades 3 through 8, with consequences for schools that failed to meet performance benchmarks. Armed with loads of standardized testing data, policy makers, communities, and parents could theoretically look at a school’s performance to get a quick snapshot of which schools were “good” and which ones they should avoid for their children. But unfortunately, interpreting the data in this way is faulty.
Research has shown time and again that overall school performance grades do not measure the quality of a school but instead they are strong indicators of the socioeconomic status of the students in that school. Two of the best predictors of students’ standardized test scores are family income and parental educational attainment. It’s important for parents to keep this in mind as they are looking for schools and neighborhoods to live in. Parents should spend time thinking about all the things that are important to them in a school environment. Things such as: Are the kids safe at this school? What is the frequency and quality of outdoor time? What are the arts and music programs like? Are the kids happy and have a sense of belonging? As you can see, many of these types of questions have nothing to do with a standardized test score so the limitations of the school rankings become more apparent.
how to use school performance data
If you’re looking for the “right school” for your child, I want you to start here to understand the full picture of what it means to find a “best fit” school for your family. These school report cards do have some helpful information in them, though it can be tedious to sift through the information to determine what it really means. At The Education Breakdown, we believe that these scores are just one piece of the puzzle. It is so important for you to take a tour of your local school, talk to neighbors about how they feel about the school, and know the right questions to ask!
Top 4 things to look for in a school report card (and what they mean)
- Academic Growth– The school will be awarded one of three categories: Did not meet expected growth, Met expected growth, or Exceeded expected growth. Growth expectation is based on the average amount of academic growth for all students across the state. The standard expectation is roughly equivalent to a year’s worth of expected growth. One caveat is that growth can be easier to achieve in students who are under-performing. While not a perfect measure, many educators still prefer this data point over raw test scores of proficiency.
- Average Class Size– A large number of studies have demonstrated that smaller class sizes raise student achievement in both the long and the short term. See how the school you’re interested in compares to other schools in the district and the state for class sizes.
- Proficiency in Subject Areas– If you can, view these proficiency scores broken down by subgroup so that you can see how students performed based on race, socioeconomic status, disability status, etc. This can be helpful for two reasons: if the school has a low overall grade, you may see that some of this can be explained by the diversity of the school in terms of English Learners or students with disabilities. Additionally, it can be helpful to get an idea of how your student might fare in this school depending on what category they fall into. It’s still important to remember that proficiency scores simply come from a standardized test which has its own inherent challenges and does not accurately reflect all of the learning and progress that is happening inside the school.
- Teacher Qualifications– Many state reports will tell you about teacher tenure and teacher qualifications. Again, this can give you a little insight into what type of teachers there are which may affect the quality of instruction.
What you need to know as a parent
The school performance grades were designed to hold schools accountable and to provide easy-to-access data for parents and community members about the health of their schools. School performance data is important because it conveys the message that school quality is important and it can prompt interventions when needed.
Unfortunately, we see that the scores actually reflect the affluence of the school instead of the actual learning taking place within the school. The over-reliance on these raw test scores does not reflect the learning that takes place in non-tested classes, the climate and safety of the school, the community of the school and level of parental involvement, nor the commitment of the teachers, and it leads to students who are borderline passing being given additional attention to the detriment of others.
It’s important to visit schools and talk with parents in your community to determine if a school is going to be a good fit for your child. When touring a school and speaking with administrators, a great question you can ask is: “How should I interpret this school’s test scores? What are they telling me? What are they not telling me?”
If you’re interested in learning more about how ranking sites such as Niche.com and GreatSchools.org formulate their rankings (and why they are concerning), check out this quick, informative video.