The purpose of the study was to determine the characteristics of the 10 best school districts in Arkansas for 1992-93. State legislation (Act 688) of 1989 established an Office of Accountability within the State Department of Education that would provide, among other things, an annual school report card. The school report card assesses the…

In this study, FairTest evaluated how well state assessment practices live up to the promise of high standards without standardization. The practices of states were measured against standards derived from the "Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems," a 1995 publication of education and civil rights groups working…

FairTest evaluated how well state assessment practices live up to the promise of high standards without standardization. The practices of states were measured against standards derived from the "Principles and Indicators for Student Assessment Systems," a 1995 publication of education and civil rights groups working through the National…

Discusses the narrative report, which is an alternative to the traditional report card for reporting children's development and progress to parents. Examples of entries in a narrative report are included. (BB)

This investigation compared United States and New Zealand teachers' perceptions of classroom interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants read one of six vignettes describing a child with symptoms representative of ADHD. The number and type of symptoms were consistent across all vignettes. Next, teachers read a…

An evaluation was conducted to examine the structure and design of the Continuous Progress Report (CPR), an observation scale used to measure students' early developmental skills in the District of Columbia public schools. Item construction and the relative consistency of measurement constructs in the CPR were the specific focus of the evaluation.…

As the latest in a series of studies analyzing the data reported on Tennessee's school district report cards, this paper focuses on finding a common statistical treatment to examine the impact of predictor variables on dependent variables. Investigations of the 1988-89 report card data explored the relationships among eight school district…

Report cards on schools have become common in many states, but their contents and formats vary widely. To study the variations and to determine if the differences in presentation have anything to do with presenting valuable data or with educational policy, a study was undertaken of the report cards of Southeastern states. Five states (Florida,…

The four essays in this collection provide guidelines for parents and teachers in educating children. The first essay, "Parents, the Pupil, and the School Curriculum," describes selected ways parents may help pupils to achieve in the school curriculum. "Objectives of the School, the Pupil, and Parents" discusses the need for teachers to plan…

Contents of this manual center on and develop action check-lists for parents concerning the following topics: how to help your child do better in school; how to make sure all children learn to read--sample questionnaire: parent survey of reading achievement; how to use state and federal funds to force educational reform in your school; how to take…

Report cards from 39 kindergarten, 59 elementary, 48 middle school, and 70 high school students in Wisconsin were content analyzed to determine their influence on meaningfulness of interpretations parents might make about academic achievement. Findings indicate that report cards typically have serious limitations that compromise the validity of…

Presents tips, gleaned from federal research, to help parents understand how their children are doing in school, including: know what is expected; know the child's reading level; understand test scores; solicit teacher feedback; become familiar with the child's homework; use report cards to identify overall progress; stay attuned to social skills;…

In April 1992 the Louisiana Department of Education sent individualized school-level profiles and district composite reports to all 66 district offices in the state. To measure the effectiveness of this program and identify areas of improvement for subsequent profiles, a survey was conducted. This report considers the responses of 363 parent…

This study examined teachers' recording and reporting practices in conjunction with the recently published New Zealand Curriculum Framework (NZCF), which requires teachers to report the achievement of students in curriculum strands. Teachers from 10 primary, intermediate, and secondary schools examined existing practices and worked to develop…

School report cards from 11 Southeastern states were studied for similarities and differences in: (1) instruments used to measure student performance; (2) student outcomes reported and the procedures for reporting them; (3) levels of outcome reported; (4) school and community factors reported; and (5) statistical procedures used to evaluate data.…