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School report cards out; available online
by Tim Pugmire, Minnesota Public Radio
August 21, 2003

Gov. Pawlenty goes online to check out the new report card system for Minnesota's schools. The information is available on the Education Department's Web site. (MPR Photo/Tim Pugmire)

State education officials have released individual report cards for more than 1,800 public schools. They also for the first time rated 921 elementary schools on a one to five-star scale. Most earned a three-star rating. Gov. Pawlenty and his education commissioner unveiled the cards Thursday at the Minnesota State Fair.

St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Education is encouraging fairgoers to visit its State Fair exhibit, and look up the new school report cards on the available computer terminals. The compiled school information is now available on the agency's Web site. Gov. Pawlenty helped fifth-grader Jeremy Kovacs locate his school online.

"We're going to check up on the school and see how's it doing. And the idea is -- at the fair people can come here, but eventually people are just going to be able to go on the Internet," Pawlenty said. "And their mom or their dad, or you or your neighbors can go on the Internet and get a report card on how your school is doing and your school performance."

Kovacs attends Lincoln Center Elementary in South St. Paul. The school earned a three-star rating in both math and reading. Jeremy's father, Mike Kovacs, was impressed.

	Finding a school's rating

"I think it's good general information for the state to have, to compare with other schools and other school districts. I think it's a good start," Kovacs said.

The report cards include data on test scores, student demographics, teacher qualifications and district finances. The governor says the public is getting comprehensive information in an easy to read format. In the spirit of the state fair, Pawlenty called the report cards "accountability on a stick."

"Traditionally, the measure of our commitment to schools has always been just, 'How much are we spending?' That's a good and important measure, but it's an incomplete measure. We also want the measurement to be, 'What are we getting for the money? What are we getting in terms of student learning and performance and accountability?'" said Pawlenty.

Most of the school information has been previously available to the public. What's new is the star rating. Each school gets a rating for reading test scores and another for math. Sixty-five percent of the schools earned three stars in reading, and 70 percent were three-star schools in math.

One and two-star ratings are reserved for schools that haven't made the adequate yearly progress required under federal education law.

	Giving out the grades

State Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke says the report cards give parents important information. But she says they should not just focus on the number of stars. "The report card covers so much. We want to make sure every school had a fair shake in terms of everything that they do, that we represent it well on the report card," Yecke said.

In the Anoka-Hennepin district, school ratings ranged from two stars up to four. Superintendent Roger Giroux says he supports the state's overall accountability goals and the school-by-school reports. He's less enthusiastic about the star system.

"The assumption is that the two or three-star school is not performing nearly as well or as effectively, or giving out as much effort as a four or five-star school. And that's simply not reflecting reality," says Giroux.

Educators are also critical of the system because all schools can't achieve the highest ratings. Schools must be in the top 10 or 25 percent of comparable schools to earn four or five stars. Judy Schaubach, president of the teachers union Education Minnesota, is troubled by the bell curve approach.

"We want to make sure that all schools are doing well, and the way that this is set up, not everybody can even possibly reach the four or five stars. So right away it creates some confusion about what this is really telling you," says Schaubach. Report cards are available online for all Minnesota public schools. But officials only gave star ratings this year to elementary schools. They'll rate middle schools and high schools for the first time next year.

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