§ 6-15-1402 - Purpose -- Report -- Confidentiality -- Rules and regulations. - Arkansas Statutes

6-15-1402. Purpose -- Report -- Confidentiality -- Rules and regulations.

(a) In order to generally improve public school accountability, to provide benchmarks for measuring individual school improvement, and to empower parents and guardians of children enrolled in Arkansas public schools by providing them with the information to judge the quality of their schools, the Department of Education shall annually prepare and publish a school performance report for each individual public school in the state, including the Arkansas School for the Deaf, the Arkansas School for the Blind, and the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, and shall distribute the report to every parent or guardian of a child in kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) in the public schools of Arkansas.

(b) (1) The annual school performance report shall be based on reliable statistical information uniformly required to be collected and submitted by each local school district to the department and shall be published in a format that can be easily understood by parents or guardians who are not professional educators and distributed to the parents or guardians of children enrolled in the public schools via the postal service. Individual school reports shall also be made available via the Internet. The information necessary to produce the school performance report, including the names and addresses of parents and guardians, shall be filed with the department. The department is strongly encouraged to contract with individuals or businesses knowledgeable in the areas of graphic and computer design to ensure that the school performance reports required by this subchapter are published in a format that encourages their utilization by the citizens of the state. The department may enter into a contract arrangement with other parties in order to provide appropriate printing and distribution services.

(2) The report for elementary schools shall:

(A) Include three-year trend data and allow parents or guardians to compare the school's performance with state and national averages in areas and shall include, but not be limited to, the following measures:

(i) School safety;

(ii) Norm-referenced test results;

(iii) Augmented, criterion-referenced, or norm-referenced assessment results;

(iv) Certified staff qualifications;

(v) Total per pupil spending;

(vi) Assessment of the local taxpayer investment in the school district;

(vii) Percentage of students eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals;

(viii) Average salary of the staff; and

(ix) Average attendance rates for students; and

(B) Indicate separately whether:

(i) The school distributed the school's student discipline policy to parents;

(ii) The school's teachers, administrators, classified school employees, and volunteers have been provided with appropriate student discipline training; and

(iii) The school district has adopted a parental involvement plan in compliance with 6-15-1702.

(3) The report for middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools shall:

(A) Include three-year trend data and allow parents or guardians to compare the school's performance with state and national averages in areas which shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(i) School safety;

(ii) Norm-referenced test results;

(iii) Augmented criterion-referenced assessment results;

(iv) Certified staff qualifications;

(v) Per pupil spending;

(vi) Assessment of the local taxpayer investment in the school district;

(vii) Percentage of students eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals;

(viii) Average salary of the staff;

(ix) Average attendance rates for students;

(x) Drop-out rate;

(xi) Graduation or completion rates;

(xii) College remediation rate for high schools only; and

(xiii) Collegiate admission test results; and

(B) Indicate separately whether:

(i) The school distributed the school's student discipline policy to parents;

(ii) The school's teachers, administrators, classified school employees, and volunteers have been provided with appropriate student discipline training; and

(iii) The school district has adopted a parental involvement plan in compliance with 6-15-1702.

(c) School districts may prepare and distribute supplemental materials concerning the information contained in the school performance reports.

(d) The department is encouraged to include with school performance reports explanatory material regarding efforts to improve the state's public schools. The department is also encouraged to explore the feasibility of incorporating the school improvement plans developed by schools and school districts with the school performance reports.

(e) The school performance report shall not include individual student information if the information is reported in a manner which would identify a particular student.

(f) The department shall not disclose parent or guardian names, addresses, or other identifying information under any circumstances, and the department shall require any vendor, contractor, or supplier utilized to provide services under this subchapter to sign a confidentiality agreement that shall prohibit the disclosure of parent or guardian names, addresses, or other identifying information.

(g) The Arkansas School for the Blind and the Arkansas School for the Deaf shall submit to the department the results of the appropriately adopted student achievement tests for the students enrolled at these schools. In addition, the Arkansas School for the Blind and the Arkansas School for the Deaf shall submit to the department a list of other schools' programs to which these schools can be compared.

(h) The department is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations reasonably necessary to carry out the purposes of this subchapter regarding the annual school performance report.

(i) The department shall issue the annual school performance report no later than March 15 of each school year.