New Law Overhauls School Report Cards

On January 24, 2012, Governor Quinn signed House Bill 605 into law, significantly revamping the report cards used by the State Board of Education, parents, communities, educators, and lawmakers to evaluate the success of schools.

The law requires the State Board of Education to prepare a State report card, school district report cards, and school report cards and submit the reports to school districts by October 31^st of each year beginning in 2013.  The report cards must include information regarding school characteristics and demographics, curriculum, student outcomes, student progress, and the school enviornment.  In addition, the report cards must provide information that allows comparisons of student outcomes, progress and environment with data from the previous five years and with similar schools.

Within 30 days of receiving their school district report cards and individual school report cards, boards of education must present the report cards at a regular school board meeting, post the cards on the district's website (if the district maintains a website), make the report cards available to newspapers of general circulation serving the district, and, upon request, send the report cards home to parents.  School districts that do not maintain a website must send the report cards home to parents even without request.  Districts that post the report cards on their websites must send parents notficiation stating: (1) that the report card is available on the website; (2) the address of the website; (3) that a printed copy of the report card will be sent to the parents upon request; and (4) the telephone number parents may call to request a printed copy of the report.

The new report cards should also make it easier for parents and communities to evaluate the success of their schools by presenting the information in a more user-friendly format.  Currently, school report cards can sometimes turn into 15-page reports.  The new law will shrink the report cards down to two pages with colorful graphics.  While the law goes into effect immediately, the new report cards will not make an appearance until the 2013-2014 school year.