San Bernardino>> Parents and the public can now learn about a school’s academic performance through an online report card known as the California School Dashboard.
The California Department of Education’s (CDE’s) new dashboard, available at www.caschooldashboard.org, replaces the Academic Performance Index (API), which previously rated a school’s academic progress with a single number ranging from a low of 200 to a high of 1,000. The dashboard, which debuted in mid-March, is designed to give users a more complete picture of a school and a school district’s performance by going beyond test scores.
In addition to English-language arts and math test scores, the new measures include student suspension rates, progress made by English-language learners, high school graduation rates, figures on student absences, and progress toward helping students be college and career ready.
This information is designed to provide users with more comprehensive information about student achievement, as well as reveal areas that need improvement. Performance in each of the six categories is ranked using a color-coded, pie chart that reports a school’s current status and its yearly progress toward meeting goals. The five performance levels, from highest to lowest, are blue (five pie pieces), green, yellow, orange, and red (one pie piece). Rankings are also broken down by student demographic groups both at the school and districtwide levels.
San Bernardino City Unified School District’s (SBCUSD) overall graduation rate, which CDE reported as an 86.1 percent cohort graduation rate, received the best grade, blue. Meanwhile, SBCUSD’s efforts to prepare students for college and careers, a strength evidenced by the numerous Linked Learning and career pathway offerings across District schools, especially high schools, will not be ranked until this fall. The District’s student suspension rate, which has been steadily decreasing as schools implement programs like restorative justice and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBiS), was ranked yellow, meaning more work is needed in that area.
SBCUSD Superintendent Dr. Dale Marsden welcomes the new accountability system, which he said will help the District prioritize funding.
“We welcome any tool that provides educators and parents with information about our school system’s strengths and opportunities for improvement,” Marsden said. “Just like the report card that our students bring home, the dashboard will let us focus our resources where they’re needed the most.”
In addition to the six categories, school districts will also be required to report progress on key performance indicators like parent engagement and school climate.