SCHOOL REPORTS

Students get report cards. Parents expect them each quarter and hope that the reports reflect an accurate measure of their children's work.

Missouri's 524 public schools now are required, under the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993, to generate a report card about district achievements. The document is supposed to include statistical information about finances, staffing, salaries, class size and dropout rates.

This report card is supposed to reflect improvements and failures in the district. But there are problems in this comparison.

Not all the schools used standardized forms for the information. That means not all schools may be comparing apples to apples. It also seems a stretch to call the document a report card, because the data is each district isn't judged against some set of standards. It may just provide an illusion of accountability instead of a true measure of comparison.

One of the more valid measures of comparison available is the Missouri Mastery and Achievement Test scores -- a standardized test taken in all Missouri schools. But that test is being phased out in the 1997-98 school year, further muddying the waters.

The schools themselves decide what goes on the document. That is like asking the students to determine their own grade. Most students would find themselves easy graders.

The reports are supposed to be mailed to "all media outlets serving the district and each member of the General Assembly representing the legislative district." This newspaper has received very few reports from area schools, which may demonstrate that the Oct. 1 deadline wasn't uniformly met this first year.

The law also requires that these report cards should also be made available to all district patrons. Some districts may send the district report cards home in various forms. Others are putting the data on the Internet as a way of reaching parents.

It is hard to determine just how many districts met the deadline since no government agency was required to receive the reports.

The State Board of Education is considering a ruling that would require all districts to submit these reports to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. That may be a good idea. A review of all district report cards could provide parents and the media with a better measuring stick.

Many area superintendents said the information required posed a monumental task for small districts. That is all the more reason that the state should ensure the information means something. Otherwise, it might just be a waste of time for these districts -- time that could be better spent ensuring quality education at the local level.