School report cards

Dec 17, 2017 Education Corner, Features / Columnists

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One of the novel initiatives recommended in Guyana’s Education Strategic Plan, but to-date not implemented, is the idea of School Report Cards. The fundamental principles at its base are laudable as they seek to improve overall school performance.
Like virtually all education initiatives however, if not strategically implemented, it can potentially cause more harm than good. As such, widespread consultation on its viability and sensitisation of the education stakeholders and beneficiaries about its purpose, as well as the potential dangers, are critical prerequisites to its successful implementation.
The school report card is a compilation of vital school data that is publicly shared on an annual basis. This is primarily an accountability mechanism aimed at ensuring another layer of scrutiny which should serve to ensure schools meet the quality imperative.
There is a perception that traditionally, the details regarding the operations and performance data of our schools have been highly guarded internal secrets. Besides the students’ report cards, the only other information released is the examination performance statistics. The reporting mechanisms for our school-based, national and regional assessments are limited in relation to their depth and scope.
Moreover, assessment data, though important, is only one dimension of performance and can sometimes mask a range of other critical bits of school information. The numbers, taken in isolation, do not always give the full picture in relation to the things going on in schools. The school report card is a mechanism through which other vital data is compiled and shared with the relevant education stakeholders.
A fundamental principle is the right of parents and communities to access comprehensive information regarding school performance. It is believed that the sharing of such will serve as a catalyst for greater levels of involvement on the part of these key stakeholders.
These education partners are supposed to perform an oversight function in the best interest of their children’s education. However, the potential for this has been limited in the absence of school data. The school report cards should be comprehensive and address areas well beyond test data such as school demographics, teacher and student attendance and punctuality, leadership and management information, availability and use of human and material resources, curricular interventions and even school safety and security.
It should give a clear indication of the status quo as well as recommendations for the improvement of the institution.
Basic information such as teacher and student attendance and punctuality statistics should provide a basis for collaboration on strategies to improve same. Data on the availability and quality of school resources could also be the impetus for community-based school improvement projects. More importantly, school-specific, disaggregated trend data on performance at the national and regional assessments give insights into the degree of academic progress and could motivate education stakeholders to collectively devise performance improvement plans.
On another level, this form of comprehensive information can be the basis for strategic, school-based performance improvement interventions informed by empirical evidence. Education Departments can be better guided in their decisions regarding the treatment of schools rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, as is sometimes the case.
Schools can be viewed more as community assets and devise approaches for greater stakeholder involvement in the attainment of their objectives. The information should be structured and delivered in a format that could be easily understood and appreciated by parents and community members and serve to encourage their participation.
These hopes are at the base of this information sharing initiative and research has shown that some education systems have benefitted from it.
There are some inherent dangers, however, since the information provided can be interpreted and used in the wrong way, producing unintended consequences. The implementation of education initiatives should strongly consider the contextualdimensions that could impact their success. Guyana has a long-standing, deeply engrained culture of labelling schools as good and bad schools. The unregulated release of school performance data without effective education of the public in relation to its purpose and use could further exacerbate the problem.
Schools that are underperforming could potentially further suffer rather than receive the vital support this initiative is intended to garner. In addition, this could be regarded by some educators as a basis for competition between schools.
On the surface, some healthy competition might be deemed a good thing. In reality however, in an environment starved for a range of resources such as our, schools should be encouraged to collaborate and pool resources towards achieving our objectives—competition eliminates this possibility as schools focus on their own position on the national scale.
Even further, this can serve to solidify the deleteriousexam culture already affecting the system by placing excessive emphasis on this dimension of the school report cards. The reporting formats must also guard against its use to isolate and penalise schools and educators, another potential unintended consequence. The data should be utilised to inform the developmental agenda for schools and should not be deemed as a punitive tool.
In some school systems, this type of data has been used to make key decisions regarding school operations. Where the accountability frameworks set standards for school performance and progress, there are usually well-defined incentive and disincentive structures which are informed by these reports.
Such data is used to determine the retention of or changes needed to the school’s administration, the redefining of school curricular interventions and in some extreme cases whether some schools remain open. Similarly, it is also the basis on which schoolwide incentive structures are defined and disseminated, where schools showing consistent progress are rewarded for their efforts.
The Ministry of Education must clearly articulate the purpose and means through which this data will be utilised within the system. Given the potential dangers, an assessment will have to be made as to whether the potential benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
Where possible, safeguards can be put in place to avoid the likely pitfalls. The greatest misstep would be the release of such information without the required sensitisation groundwork. Education Officers, school administrators and staff, PTA’s and other stakeholders must be educated on how to interpret and utilise the data for the improvements of the institutions. Moreover, everyone should have a common understanding as to how and what the information will be utilised for at the policymaking level of the education system.
School report cards have great value in encouraging educators to improve their overall performance but they must also be reassured that where their efforts fall short, there are structures aimed at guiding them towards effective developmental options and not just penalties.

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