Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Schools Set To Receive Grades

The state Department of Education is preparing report cards that grade individual schools, which will be mailed to about 450,000 parents of Arkansas public school students in mid-September.

The General Assembly approved Act 769 in the 1999 legislative session instructing the Education Department to prepare and send the report cards. The Senate sponsor of the legislation told about 400 parents and educators at a conference in Little Rock that the report cards should encourage parents to demand improvements in schools.

When groups of people unite to demand a change in government policy they usually draw a response from elected officials, the senator said, noting the tax reform efforts that have been prompted by opponents of the property tax system. By the same token, he said, if enough parents voice their opinions about schools, public officials will be forced to take action.

The report cards will indicate how schools rank in safety and discipline, standardized test results, qualifications of certified staff and teachers, per pupil expenditures, local taxpayer investment in the form of property tax assessments, average teacher salaries, the number of students who are poor enough to qualify for reduced-price lunches and attendance rates.

High schools will have to report dropout rates and the number of students who go on to college, as well as the percentage who must take remedial courses in college.

Some educators raised questions about how the report cards will grade schools on discipline. Some principals report relatively few disciplinary actions, such as suspensions, in order to make it appear that their school is free of discipline problems.

It is the experience of some teachers, however, that schools usually have fewer discipline problems if principals are not reluctant to impose suspensions on unruly students. Problem students are quick to take advantage when the administration policy is to keep down the number of suspensions. Therefore, schools with a greater number of suspensions can actually be more orderly and safe than schools that report fewer suspensions.

Act 769 requires the school report cards to be in a format easily understandable by people who do not work in education. Some parents and legislators have been frustrated by the language used by educators, which can be so full of bureaucratic and technical jargon that it is incomprehensible.

In other news, the governor last week announced the beginning of a new education program designed to improve the math, reading and writing skills of students in grades five through eight.

The program is called Smart Step and is an extension of Smart Start, the state's initiative to improve the academic skills of students up to the fourth grade. The programs pay for more teacher training and require students to meet expected scores on standardized tests.

The announcement was welcomed by superintendents and teachers' groups who have a favorable impression of Smart Start. They say it is a good idea to build on the success of Smart Start, which improves professional development and student achievement in the early grades.

Education officials hope to eventually expand the Smart Start and Smart Step improvements to all grade levels, perhaps in the next few years.

The director of the Higher Education Department said that Smart Start is preparing a new generation of students for success in college. He predicted a dramatic decline in the need for remedial classes young students now in Smart Start reach college.