Click on the profile of Hubbard Elementary School in San Jose, Calif., and you鈥檒l find that the school is using the Success for All reading program.
You鈥檒l learn that 12 of its 689 students were suspended last school year, most of them for fighting; and that 20 percent of the teachers have been on the job less than two years. You鈥檒l also discover that the principal thinks Hubbard is a 鈥渉appy place,鈥� where parents feel at ease and there鈥檚 a 鈥渃ulture of trust.鈥�
GreatSchools.net, where Hubbard Elementary makes its home on the World Wide Web, is one of many up-and-coming sites devoted to providing a detailed portrait for parents and others of how individual schools perform. The nonprofit group of that name was begun by computer afficionados in California鈥檚 Silicon Valley who were searching for ways to marry their interest in education with the particular powers of the Internet.
Launched last year, GreatSchools.net includes profiles of about 300 public schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
About half of each school鈥檚 profile is generated from state data sources. The other half is based on principals鈥� responses to 15 open-ended questions that try to zero in on such matters as school climate and safety, teaching philosophy and curriculum, and leadership.
鈥淔or every one of those 300 schools, we went out to the school and had a conversation with the principal about what the school is trying to do to strengthen its work, and how it鈥檚 doing relative to its own goals,鈥� said Bill R. Jackson, a former teacher and the president of the six-person company, whose $500,000 budget is currently supported mostly by foundations.
鈥淲e wanted to build a public appetite for a view of school quality based on a school鈥檚 own conception of what鈥檚 important,鈥� he added.
The company鈥檚 reliance on qualitative as well as quantitative information to describe a school sets it apart from many such report card projects. But next fall, GreatSchools will go one step further.
It is now completing prototypes for a new version of its report cards that will rate a school in four areas--performance, teaching, the learning environment, and leadership. Those ratings will be based on a survey of the school鈥檚 teachers and parents, state and district data sources, and a one-day site visit by a two-person team of GreatSchools staff that will spend time observing classes.
In each category, the three-level rating scheme will identify the school as 鈥渁cceptable,鈥� 鈥渆xemplary,鈥� or 鈥渘eeds improvement.鈥�
The new report card, the design of which is still subject to change, will also include a page-long narrative describing what makes the school unique, written by GreatSchools staff members, as well as a description of the school鈥檚 curriculum and programs.
鈥榁alue Judgments鈥�
鈥淥ne of the major pieces of feedback we got from the first edition was that we didn鈥檛 have enough of our own editorial voice in the profiles,鈥� Mr. Jackson said. 鈥淎nd we also didn鈥檛 have the voices of parents and teachers. The metaphor somebody used with us is, 鈥業t鈥檚 like you went into a restaurant and went back into the kitchen and asked the chef what kind of dish he or she intended to create. Why don鈥檛 you go ask the diners, or sit down and have a bite yourself?鈥欌��
鈥淲e鈥檙e really talking about getting into the business of making direct value judgments about the work of schools,鈥� he added.
For example, in the area of performance, GreatSchools.net will estimate what percentage of a school鈥檚 students master core academic skills by looking at all the measures a school uses, including state- and district-developed tests, and then evaluating those measures based on their 鈥渃redibility.鈥� A district鈥檚 own performance test, geared to the district鈥檚 standards, for example, would receive more weight than an off-the-shelf, multiple-choice exam.
In the area of teaching, the team will rely on its own observations to answer such questions as whether students are engaged in classroom learning. It also will examine the qualifications of a school鈥檚 teachers, such as the percentage who have 鈥渆mergency鈥� teaching licenses.
Work in Progress
When it comes to the learning environment, a school could not be rated as 鈥渆xemplary鈥� if parents and teachers identified safety and discipline as one of their top two or three concerns.
The characteristics of an effective school that the teams will be looking for are based on a review of research and of more than 20 school improvement models. All of the site visitors, who include former teachers and journalists, will receive a week or two of training to make their judgments more reliable.
鈥淎t first, our belief was we couldn鈥檛 do this in a day,鈥� Mr. Jackson said, 鈥渂ut then we ran across more and more people who said, 鈥榊es, you can if you restrict what you鈥檙e looking for to certain key things.鈥� 鈥�
Merrill Vargo, the executive director of the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative, which works with educators in the San Francisco area on whole-school reform, said GreatSchools.net鈥檚 efforts are promising.
鈥淭heir goals are more impressive than their output right now,鈥� she said. If the company asks good questions, she argued, it will pressure schools to produce better data and descriptions of what they are doing.
鈥楤est Foot Forward鈥�
But she worried about relying too much on evaluations based on the one-day site visits.
鈥淭o do whatever sort of inevitably inadequate assessment two of them can do in a day in a school and then publish that as real data, that鈥檚 the weakest link,鈥� she argued.
There is also the question of why schools would open themselves up to such a firsthand perusal and, possibly, criticism.
One middle school principal whose school is helping field-test the prototypes explained it this way: 鈥淎 lot of Web sites are popping up now with parent information, and some of them are just awful.鈥� (Schools participating in the prototype remain anonymous, which is why the principal鈥檚 name is not given.)
At least with GreatSchools.net, he said, there鈥檚 a chance to point people in the direction of better information.
鈥淚t helped me get a real handle on stepping out of the craziness of administration and taking a look at where we are,鈥� he added. 鈥淔or years in public schools, we鈥檝e been good at just putting feathers in our hats or drawing our own pictures, and a lot of parents aren鈥檛 buying it.鈥�
About 90 percent of the public schools in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties participated in the first editions of the report cards.
Schools haven鈥檛 yet been asked to make a commitment for the 1999-2000 school year, when the company hopes to expand to cover schools in six Bay area counties.
The company also hopes to become self-supporting, by having businesses or communities sponsor the profiles, instead of relying on foundation grants.
鈥淭his is an opportunity for schools to put their best foot forward,鈥� Mr. Jackson said. 鈥淏ut our objective is to move beyond that and jump-start or catalyze really rich conversations in communities about school quality.鈥�
