Help Build ONE Report Card for ALL Schools!

A school report card is an informational tool that should provide you with information that you’d like to know about a school overall, and help you understand how well a school is doing or where it needs more support. Right now, families get their information from many places like word of mouth and websites like Learn DC and My School DC, or even from schools directly. Having so many options can be confusing but by December 2018, OSSE has to produce ONE report card for ALL schools (district and charter), in ONE place, to make it easier for parents to access information. Report cards aren’t just for parents and families. They can also prompt conversations between educators about what is working across the city as well.

The report card is mandated by a law called the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA. But, even though it’s mandated, DC is taking the opportunity to build the best, most useful report card it can for families. OSSE has launched a city-wide public engagement effort to hear from families and the community about what they would want to know about schools so we can build a report card that is useful, accessible, and easy to navigate.

What We’ve Heard So Far

In fall 2017, OSSE and our educational partners engaged with almost 1,900 parents and community members across the District about what type of information should be included on the new school report cards. The feedback we heard, along with federally-required information, helped to inform our report card content proposal. This proposal was voted on and passed by the State Board of Education in February of 2018.

• Read an overview of the first phase of engagement
• Learn about how we responded to feedback about content on the report card
• Want to know more about how we engaged with parents and families? View our archived engagement materials.

Help Us Design the Report Card Tool!

Next up: OSSE is asking the community for feedback on the design of the report card, including layout and organization, how we are visualizing key points of information, what elements go into the “compare” function of the report card tool, and what language is most understandable for parents.

Our online survey on report card layout and organization closed May 4, but you can take a look at the engagement materials and join our mailing list to learn about future updates!