§18-2E-4. Better schools accountability; school, school district and statewide school report cards.
(a) For the purpose of providing information to the parents of public school children and the general public on the quality of education in the public schools which is uniform and comparable between schools within and among the various school districts, the state board shall provide a uniform format for school, school district and statewide school report cards and shall promulgate rules concerning the collection and reporting of data and the preparation of report cards under this section. The format shall provide for brief, concise reporting in nontechnical language of required information. Any technical or explanatory material a county board wishes to include shall be contained in a separate appendix available upon request.
(b) The school report cards shall include information as prescribed in this section to give the parents of students at the school and the general public an indication of the quality of education at the school and other programs supportive of community needs, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) Indicators of student performance at the school in comparison with the county, state, regional and national student performance, as applicable, including student performance by grade level in the various subjects measured pursuant to a uniform statewide assessment program adopted by the state board; school attendance rates; the percent of students not promoted to next grade; and the graduation rate;
(2) Indicators of school performance in comparison with the aggregate of all other schools in the county and the state, as applicable, including enrollment; average class size; pupil-teacher ratio; pupil-administrator ratio; operating expenditure per pupil; county expenditure by fund in graphic display; and the average degree classification and years of experience of the administrators and teachers at the school;
(3) The names of the members of the local school improvement council, created pursuant to section two, article five-a of this chapter; and
(4) The name or names of the business partner or partners of the school.
(c) The school district report card shall include the data for each school for each separately listed applicable indicator and the aggregate of the data for all schools, as applicable, in the county for each indicator. The statewide school report card shall include the data for each county for each separately listed indicator and the aggregate for all counties for each indicator.
(d) The report cards shall be prepared using actual local school, county, state, regional and national data indicating the present performance of the school and also shall include the state norms and the upcoming year’s targets for the school and the county board.
The state board shall provide technical assistance to each county board in preparing the school and school district report cards.
Each county board shall prepare report cards in accordance with the guidelines set forth in this section. The school district report cards shall be presented at a regular school board meeting subject to applicable notice requirements and shall be made available to a newspaper of general circulation serving the district. The school and school district report cards shall be made easily accessible on, or through a report card icon or link on, the county board website and provided in paper form upon request to the parent or parents, guardian or custodian of a child enrolled in that school. In addition, each county board shall submit the completed report cards to the state board which shall make copies available to any person requesting them. The report cards shall be completed and disseminated prior to January 1, 1989, and in each year thereafter, and shall be based upon information for the current school year, or for the most recent school year for which the information is available, in which case the year shall be clearly footnoted.
(e) In addition to the requirements of subsection (c) of this section, the school district report card shall list the following information:
(1) The names of the members of the county board and the dates upon which their terms expire; and
(2) The names of the county school superintendent and every assistant and associate superintendent and their area of school administration.
(f) The state board shall develop and implement a separate report card for nontraditional public schools pursuant to the appropriate provisions of this section to the extent practicable.
