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What do we know about student achievement and school performance, and how do we find out more?
Student achievement and school performance have become the focus of national attention. Data on student achievement is considered in many of the recent reform initiatives, such as vouchers and teacher merit pay. As the parent of a child in public school, you can learn about the local impact of these issues from your child’s firsthand experiences, local news, friends and family, and the national media. Combined with these influences, consider the following questions:
Questions for parents to consider today:
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a) How do you determine the quality of your local public schools?
- What do you use as your standard of quality?
- On which of the following do you base your assessment: personal observation, your child’s shared experiences, what other people say, data from tests such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, ACT, PSAT, or SAT, or another source?
- How current are your sources of information?
- In general, how do you think the quality of education at your local public school compares with the education you received? How is it similar and different?
b) How do you determine the quality of schools nationally?
- What are the sources of the information you get about the quality of schools? Print media? Broadcast media? Political leaders? Published reports? Test results? Your own or your child’s experience?
- How does the media represent the performance of schools? What influences the way in which the media reports school performance?
- Do education and school performance receive fair treatment by state and national political leaders?
- How relevant are comparisons between American students and students in other countries? What can we learn from educational approaches in other countries?
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