Education Dept. Report Offers Guide to Rating Public Schools

The Education Department on Wednesday issued a report to help governors, state legislators and educational committees assess the performance of public schools.

“There’s not much point in trying to improve schools unless you can measure whether the efforts are working,” Chester E. Finn Jr., assistant secretary of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, said in a statement.

“We’re long past the days when good intentions and lots of activity were acceptable signs of movement. Now policy-makers want--and the public deserves--clear evidence of actual accomplishment,” Finn continued.

The 66-page report is based on a thorough examination of 10 states’ school systems and a survey of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It describes review systems used in the states and is intended to help states produce information that is “reliable, fair and useful for improving schools.”

“I think states, without exception, have the constitutional responsibility for education,” Finn told a press conference. “And I believe that states have a responsibility that goes with that to know how their schools are doing.

“They need to know that even if their localities don’t want to know that.” he added.

Advice on Incentives

The report’s recommendations include using a variety of indicators to judge performance, making performance data public, considering programs, rewards and incentives to encourage high performance and offering assistance to poorly performing districts before considering state intervention.

In California, the report noted, the state education department sends a yearly report card to every school, complete with an achievement ranking.

In South Carolina, districts that demonstrate gains in student achievement may receive monetary awards and bonuses for improving both student and teacher attendance.