Accountability Is Focus of Performance Reports

Since taking office two years ago, Bill Honig, California’s elected superintendent of public instruction, has been trying to make the public schools more accountable to the public for the success or failure of their students.

Last week, the state Department of Education took a big step toward meeting that goal when it issued its first set of “performance reports” on nearly 1,000 California high schools.

They are sometimes called “report cards” on the schools. However, there are no grades, just lots of numbers.

Many of the numbers are already familiar, such as the annual basic skills test results. Others, such as the attendance and drop-out rates, will not be available for several more months. Still others are hard to interpret. And many teachers and principals deny that test scores or other such statistics measure the quality of the school, or even what students are learning.

Nevertheless, under Honig’s “accountability program,” California’s public schools will release more information about themselves and their students than any in the nation.

“We want to say to the public: Here’s how you’ll know whether or not we’re making progress, “ he said.

He added, however, that this “is the first time that even many of the school people have seen this data. These are base-line, beginning figures.”

In these reports, the “progress” will be defined as Honig sees it--that is, in academic terms. There are no figures on how many students are taking vocational courses or getting jobs upon graduation from high school.

In a foreword to the reports, Honig takes great pains to again rebut the charge that his is an “elitist” program “directed primarily at the college-bound students.”

“It is my firm belief that more students can and must succeed in a more intensive academic curriculum based on a strong common core of history, government, science and literature,” Honig wrote. “These courses offer the best way of developing comprehension, computing, writing, speaking and thinking skills. They also . . . allow many more students to qualify for jobs, become engaged in our culture, and develop character and citizenship.”

The performance reports include data on the percentage of seniors who last year had taken a heavy course load in mathematics, English, science, history, foreign language and fine arts. Moreover, this percentage is compared in the school’s report to a state average and to comparable schools elsewhere in the state.

The Times, in today’s Metro and suburban sections, is reporting selected statistics from the high school reports. (The elementary and junior high reports will not be available until May. The Times charts also exclude very small schools that serve a special purpose, such as magnet schools and those enrolling pregnant or handicapped students.)

The charts include the school’s average score on the verbal and mathematics portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the most popular college admissions test that is taken by nearly 40% of California’s high schools seniors.

For years, high schools have received these results from the College Board in New York, but few have chosen to release the information to parents or the public. The performance reports also include further data on the SAT, such as the percentage of students who took the test, the percentage who scored at various levels and a percentile score showing how the school’s average SAT scores compares to that of other similar high schools.

A similarly detailed analysis is included for the California Assessment Program, the state basic skills tests. The Times reported those scores on Dec. 30.

The reports also contain the percentages of seniors who have taken an advanced placement course and passed a rigorous test administered by the College Board. Advanced placement courses are designed to be the equivalent of a freshman-level university class, and are generally offered to honors students. The tests are scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with a score of 3 or above needed for passing.

Absent from the reports are numbers on the school’s attendance rate, estimates of the weekly homework assignments and the number of students who have dropped out. Honig said the attendance and homework figures will soon be available. However, statistics on the drop-out rate will be delayed at least a year because school officials have yet to settle on a way to track students who leave and don’t return, Honig added.

Since the Times chart includes only selected figures from the school reports, Honig said interested parents or others should contact their local schools to see the entire six pages.