What new report card will show for your school district
How much does a school in Aurora spend to educate its students versus another in Barrington or elsewhere?
Parents and community members can find the answer in the 2019 Illinois Report Card set for release Oct. 30.
The report card, which provides an annual snapshot of school districts' fiscal and academic data, for the first time will include per-pupil spending at the individual school level.
Per-pupil expenditures have been reported by district for many years. Reporting school site-based expenditures now is required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
Knowing what individual schools spend to educate students provides a clearer picture of equity among districts and emphasizes the "relationship between financial investments and student outcomes," said Sara Shaw, Illinois State Board of Education senior manager of fiscal and academic solvency.
School-level per-pupil spending includes ongoing educational expenses, such as staffing, supplies, transportation, security, administrative services, and a school's proportional share of other centralized expenditures. Spending will be broken down by federal, state and local funding sources, Shaw said.
Not included in the per-pupil total is money spent from a district's special funds, such as capital projects, debt service, working cash and fire prevention and safety, and on adult education, community services, and tuition payments to charter schools. For a full list of exclusions, visit isbe.net.
Shaw said school districts have "a lot of autonomy" over how revenues are spent. Having this data will drive deeper conversations in communities about how resources are allocated, she added.
Other first-time information in the 2019 report card includes civil rights and special student groups.
Under federal education law, schools must report civil rights data, such as in-school and out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, school-related arrests, referrals to law enforcement, chronic absenteeism (students absent for 15 or more school days), violence such as rape, sexual assault and physical attacks, plus school shootings and homicides committed on school grounds. The data in this year's report card reflects the 2015-16 school year - the latest available.
Also new is the inclusion of proficiency rates in English language arts, mathematics and science, graduation rates and growth percentiles for certain student groups: children with disabilities supported through an individualized education program or a 504 Plan; migratory children who moved within the previous 36 months due to economic necessity; students with a parent or guardian who is an active duty member of the military; and youth placed in temporary custody or guardianship of the Department of Children and Family Services.
There will be additional data available about children with disabilities, including student mobility, dropout rate, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and dual-credit course enrollment, ninth-graders on track to graduate, and test participation rates.
The 2019 report card will feature the first year of performance results from the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, which bears similarities to its predecessor, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test. The state calculates proficiency rates and average growth percentiles in mathematics, reading and science by school.
"Any growth percentile above 40 is solid ... anything over 50 is very good, and 65 and above is great," said Rae Clementz, ISBE director of accountability.
"The vast majority of schools in the state cluster between 40% and 50%."