MAKING THE GRADE: REPORT CARDS ISSUED ON STATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS (FIVE-PART SERIES)

On Dec. 1, Missouri school districts had to issue report cards -- on themselves.

Much like teachers issue report cards to give students and their parents a record of the child's academic progress, school districts are required to issue annual report cards so the public has a record of the district's achievements and failures during the previous year.

The reports are provided to news media, legislators and patrons.

These district report cards -- a requirement under the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993 -- include statistical information about finances, staff, salaries, class sizes and dropout rates, as well as achievement information about college preparatory exams and state assessments.

The main purpose of the reports is to keep patrons informed about what's going on in their school district, said Marilou Joyner, assistant commissioner for student services with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

They also provide DESE with a comprehensive annual review that alerts them to districts that might need help, she said. A third purpose of the reports is to allow administrators to see how their district fares in relation to other Missouri schools in a given year, she said.

"We wanted them basically to have some means of comparison, but we did not dictate what that comparison should be," she said. "What we didn't want was a whole bunch of scores out there and nothing else, because that would have made it pretty useless."

Several positive trends have been made by Missouri schools since 1993. The average teacher's salary for a regular term contract has steadily increased each year from the 1993-94 average of $29,078 to an average salary of $31,843 in 1996-97. Administrator salaries have shown similar gains, with increases from an average $50,229 in 1993-94 to $56,978 last year.

In the same time period, dropout rates have decreased slightly statewide while graduation rates have increased about four percent, and Missouri students are scoring better on college preparatory exams.

"We've seen consistent gains in several areas, like ACT scores," Joyner said. "We'd like to believe it's because of more emphasis on performance and more participation in summer school programs, but it's difficult to pinpoint."

Joyner said by comparing their data to state trends, school administrators and patrons are able to rate their strengths and weaknesses annually. District officials can also make specific comparisons against others of similar size or wealth, or to measure trends within the state or the district itself.

However, she said, it's important to remember that every district is unique when making comparisons. Differing circumstances may cause some districts to appear to be lagging when in fact they aren't, she said.

"You have to be careful when you start comparing districts to each other because of the different factors that make each district unique," she said. "That doesn't mean comparisons aren't possible with information provided in the reports.

"If they get it and put in on a shelf, there is no benefit, but if they take that information and pull it into, like planning, in their district, they will get a major benefit."