Grading school report cards

Recognizing the need for information in public education, Congress mandated in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that all states create and disseminate annual school performance report cards. A decade after NCLB passed, school report cards are widely available for nearly every school in the country. As the amount of school performance data grows, so too has public attention. Research suggests report card grades influence parent satisfaction and even housing prices. However, this responsiveness should be viewed cautiously because report card elements not related to school performance, such as how the data are presented, also influence satisfaction. Thus, while school performance report cards hold potential to inform, they also can distort views about public education performance and affect parent and voter support for public education. © 2013.