New State-Ordered ‘Report Cards’ to Hold Schools Accountable

Los Angeles schools, including those in the San Fernando Valley, begin issuing for the first time today state-mandated school “report cards” measuring categories such as academic performance, dropout rates and average class size.

The school accountability reports, part of the Proposition 98 school funding initiative approved by voters in November, 1988, provide parents and prospective home buyers a checklist of 13 school performance standards.

“Most of the information has been available different places, but this is the first time we have it included together,” said Lu Hishmeh, an administrative consultant with the Los Angeles Unified School District who assisted schools in compiling the information.

Previously, high schools in the state were required to issue reports showing, for example, the dropout rates as well as the number of students enrolling in math and science classes and the number of students taking college entrance exams.

The new school report cards, which are available at each of the more than 600 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, are for the 1988-89 school year.

Proposition 98, which made specific the percentage of the state budget set aside for education, requires the reports from every elementary, junior and senior high school in the state.

The reports include results of the California Assessment Program as well as the California Test of Basic Skills--both statewide tests measuring student body performance in reading, writing and mathematics. Results of the most recent senior high school CAP scores, released this week, show Los Angeles students scoring below the state average.

The reports, which are available in Spanish, also show changes in enrollment over past years, as well as in the school’s ethnic makeup, attendance rates and number of expulsions and suspensions. One section shows how much money is spent at the school on salaries, school supplies, maintenance and administration.

Junior and senior high schools are required to report the number and percentage of A’s, Bs, Cs, Ds and Fs issued students in math, English, social science and science courses.

“A high percentage of A’s shows highly motivated youngsters who are probably being provided with enrichment courses and who are working past their grade level,” said Sara A. Coughlin, one of two regional superintendents responsible for Valley elementary and junior high schools. “A high level of Ds and Fs show youngsters are not achieving at their grade level and parents should be alarmed.”

School administrators will hold meetings over the next few weeks to explain the accountability reports to parents, district officials said.