By Paul Negron, Public Affairs Specialist
The SBOE Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Task Force met on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 to discuss the new version of DC’s school report card. Maya Martin, Executive Director of Parents Amplifying Voices in Education (PAVE), Josh Boots, Executive Director of EmpowerK12, and representatives from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) provided task force members with an overview of recently held parent feedback sessions on the DC school report card.
PAVE held meetings with each of its Parent Leaders in Education (PLE) Boards in Wards 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Parents were asked to rank the top five things they looked for when they chose a school for their student. Parents then examined PCSB’s Performance Management Framework Reports, DC Public School’s Scorecards, and the LEARN DC profiles, and discussed the pros and cons of each. In addition, PAVE canvassed and collected surveys from 51 total parents. 85% of parents who attended sessions said “Student Performance by Subgroup” and “Teacher Quality” were the most important factors needed on a DC school report card. Re-enrollment, School Funding, and Attendance were also rated highly. Parents want one source where they can get data, and one that helps them interpret quality more easily.
OSSE’s Deputy Chief of Staff Naomi Watson & Special Assistant Justin Tooley presented information from recently held school report card parent sessions. OSSE reported hearing from 430 parents, families, and community members at in-person sessions and an online survey. The team expects to hear up to 1500 pieces of feedback through December 15th. Top themes that parents are looking for included teacher data, parent and family engagement, graduation and college-preparedness, diversity, grades and test scores, and discipline and safety.
Public engagement continues until December 15, 2017. The OSSE Parent and Community Engagement Toolkit is now available here which enables community members to facilitate their own feedback sessions. Additionally, residents can make their voice heard by filling out an online survey. After December 15th, OSSE will log and analyze all of the public feedback and then update the report card content based on the analysis collected. A final proposal will be presented to the State Board of Education in January 2018.
The next ESSA Task Force meeting will be held on January 8th. To learn more, click sboe.dc.gov/essa.
D.C. State Board of Education Blog 