Filled with jargon, “meaningless” tables and missing data, state report cards can be difficult for parents to use, an analysis by the Data Quality Campaign says.
Under both the No Child Left Behind Act and its successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act, states are required to provide annual report cards on student performance in schools and districts. The federal government has provided related grants to all states to develop longitudinal student-data systems, in part to give parents and policymakers richer information about student achievement.
For the study, analysts reviewed those reports from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They found that some states had data two or three school years out of date. Others did not provide school achievement data broken out by gender, race, poverty, or disability status. A handful provided information on school finances. And 45 states provided information only in English.
The reviewers found that only four states—Iowa, Nebraska, Virginia, and Washington—issue school report cards with all the information required under NCLB.
