SARCSelect aces school report cards

They are supposed to make it easier for parents and other members of the community to evaluate how well their public schools are performing. But the quality and readability of School Accountability Report Cards, or SARCs, vary widely—partly because state lawmakers have dramatically increased the amount of data schools are required to report.

In fact, a recent report by UCLA researchers concluded that some school report cards are more difficult to understand than directives from the Internal Revenue Service. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

To help ensure that school report cards are instructive rather than baffling, there’s SARCSelect—a service provided by the California School Boards Association in partnership with Axiom Management Advisors and Consultants.

“This is my first year working with Axiom on the SARC, and the service has been wonderful,” said Carolyn McCombs, director of Educational Services for the King City Union Elementary School District in Monterey County. “They work with me and our principals. The result is a very readable report card.”

State law requires the governing boards of all school districts to issue a SARC for each of their schools; they must also publicize these reports and notify parents or guardians of students that they can request copies. Brandi Bier, director of Axiom’s SARC Division, said that’s why it’s critical that school board members understand their role in producing these important accountability reports.

SARCSelect helps clients stay on top of changing state and federal regulations and provides online communication and information technology to regularly update school report cards as required by law.

The service features a number of options:

• SARCLive is an Internet-based report card that can be continually updated throughout the year
• SARCTraditional incorporates a district’s vision and design ideas into a booklet-style report card
• SARCBuilder is an easy-to-use Web-based program that helps districts create fully compliant SARCs

All California public schools have been required to produce annual school accountability report cards since voters approved Proposition 98 in 1988. Schools were initially required to include only 13 elements in these yearly reports. Now the state requires more than 30 elements, and that total is constantly changing. Earlier this year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he favors further revisions to the state’s SARC template and plans to appoint a new advisory committee to study the issue.

The question of who should pay for producing these detailed yearly report cards has also been subject to change. In the past, the state reimbursed districts for the costs of complying with SARC requirements added by lawmakers after passage of Proposition 98. But last year the Commission on State Mandates reversed itself, ruling that districts must pay for these additional expenses. CSBA’s Education Legal Alliance has filed suit over the decision.