State releases school, district report cards

The Oregon Department of Education released report cards Thursday for the state’s 1,239 schools and 197 school districts.

Officials said the report cards serve as a tool for helping schools and districts share information on student demographics, performance on state assessments, student outcomes and educational programs.

This year, however, schools did not receive an overall rating on their report card, due to the state’s plans to redesign the report card in response to new flexibility under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The new federal law, which replaces No Child Left Behind, grants states increased flexibility to build systems that support local needs.

Educators, families and communities have asked for a more holistic picture of their local schools — including areas of strengths and areas for improvement – that extends beyond state test scores. In response,

ODE is engaging stakeholders in its redesign process to understand which school success measures will help them communicate with families and communities while supporting a system of continuous improvement.

“The Oregon Department of Education is working to ensure that Oregon’s school and district report cards are redesigned to provide families and communities with more comprehensive measures of school quality, enhancing academic data with non-academic indicators like school climate and equity,” Deputy Superintendent Salam Noor said.

The redesigned report card is expected to be implemented by fall of 2018.

Access school and district report cards online at: http://www.ode.state.or.us/data/reportcard/reports.aspx .