Informing or shaping public opinion? The influence of school accountability data format on public perceptions of school quality

The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act requires local education agencies to publicly disseminate school performance data. In response, districts and state departments of education have created "school report cards" that vary widely. While data dissemination policies can improve institutional legitimacy and ensure ongoing support, we suggest that the potential to diminish or undermine legitimacy also exists. Using data from a population-based survey experiment, we demonstrate that people assign significantly different meanings to some formats. We find that format influences not only the average rating individuals assign to schools with the same performance levels but also difference perceived among schools of varying performance.