Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Secretary DeVos Releases Guide to Help Families Understand School Report Cards

  • 11/07/18

Washington, D.C. – Building on her commitment to empower parents and guardians with relevant, transparent information on their local schools, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos released today a resource guide to understanding state and local report cards required by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

ESSA directs states and districts to publish report cards that show important measures of state, district and school performance, and progress. Specifically, states and districts will report on graduation rates, student achievement, school climate, state accountability, teacher qualifications and other key indicators. For the first time ever, states will be required to report funding from federal, state and local sources, and how much money is spent per pupil. Parents will be able to utilize this valuable information to make informed decisions about their child’s current education, as well as future learning pathways.

“Parents deserve to know what is happening in their child’s school,” said Secretary DeVos. “They should not have to parse through a 500-page legal document to understand how a law or policy affects their children’s education. This guide demonstrates our ongoing commitment to providing parents with user-friendly tools and the information necessary to make informed decisions. Informed parents become empowered and engaged parents who are able to better advocate on behalf of their children.”

For more information on ESSA report cards, please see the parent guide that is available here. ESSA requires that report cards be concise, understandable and accessible to the public.

Featured

  • New Arizona Fine Arts School Reaches Construction Milestone

    Construction of the new Hilltop School for the Arts and Theater in Litchfield Park, Ariz., recently hit a significant milestone, according to a news release. The Agua Fria High School District held a beam-signing ceremony to celebrate the building’s topping out, or the placement of its last structural beam.

  • From Approval to Opening: Inside Travis Unified School District’s Fast Tracked Campus Expansion

    The Travis Unified School District (TUSD) in northern California includes several elementary and high schools serving over 5,400 students. In 2024, the TUSD Board approved the addition of sixth grade to the Golden West Middle School campus for the 2025–26 school year, setting in motion an accelerated effort to bring new facilities online in less than a year.

  • 144-Year-Old High-School Campus Debuts New Academic Facility

    San Diego High School (SDHS) in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new student services and classroom building; the project is part of a larger SDHS Whole Site Modernization project that began in 2022.

  • AAADM Announces Building Safety Month Initiatives

    The American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers (AAADM) recently announced its support of Building Safety Month as declared by the International Code Council (ICC), according to a news release.