School reports reveal important information

By looking at a few charts, parents can get an idea of how their child's school is measuring up.

Inside today's paper there are school reports for both the South Ripley School Corporation and Jac-Cen-Del School Corporation. From these reports, parents will be able to find many answers to many of their questions including student enrollment; teacher salary range; amount the district spends per student; percent of students in special education, gifted and talented education, vocational education and alternative education, and much more.

The reports are designed to let the public know how their schools are performing on measures such as standardized tests, attendance and school safety. The data, mostly reflective of the 2003-2004 school year, is designed to hold schools accountable to parents and taxpayers.

Each school is required by law to publish the Annual Performance Reports between January 15, and January 30. The districts will report corporation information along with information on each school in the district from the past four years.

In addition to information about how many students passed ISTEP or average SAT scores, the reports also include a profile of each district. For instance, a quick glance at the charts will provide demographic data such as what percentage of students are enrolled in special education or gifted and talented programs. Class sizes
and the number of students receiving free or reduced lunches are also included.

Schools must also inform parents what percentage of students graduated, how many were suspended or expelled, how many graduated with their Core 40 or Academic Honors diploma and how much the average teacher in their district is paid.

Reporting on the number of suspensions and expulsions at each school and how many were for drugs, weapons or alcohol gives parents an idea of how safe their schools are. But wading through the information won't take a degree in education. The charts and the text that explains them are designed to be easy to understand, said Jeff Zaring, state board of education administrator.

This is the second year the reports have been published in January and all the data is from the 2003-2004 school year with the exception of ISTEP scores and the number of students enrolled. Those numbers reflect this fall's ISTEP testing and enrollment. This year's reports will not include ISTEP results for grades four, seven and nine or how many high school students passed the most recent Graduation Qualifying Exam. The results from those tests won't be available until late January or early February. The Department of Education will post those results on its
Website as soon as they are available, according to Zaring.

While parents can compare their child's school to state averages on the report, making comparisons with other districts requires using the Indiana Department of Education Website.

More complete reports and charts can be found at www.doe.state.in.us by clicking on the ASAP (Accountability System for Academic Progress) link. There the public can find more sophisticated charts that include data on how certain groups of students scored on tests. They can also compare their school or district with other schools or districts in the state.