Tennessee launches new tool for parents to review their school's report card

The Tennessee Department of Education launched its 2021-22 State Report Card Monday, providing families an easy option to review how their child's school and district are performing.The report includes breakdowns by district, as well as individual data for different demographics and races, showing disparities among achievement.The State Report Card also provides parents with general information about enrollment, finance, and staffing.“With the release of the State Report Card, Tennessee continues our firm commitment to providing families with clear, actionable information on how our districts and schools are serving students,” said Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “The Report Card allows stakeholders to access years’ worth of meaningful data through an interactive, easy-to-navigate online platform, and now the latest data is available to help Tennesseans to explore and learn about their local schools and districts.”This year's State Report Card has been revised from previous versions.  TDOE says the new website includes improved usability, improved visualization, filter functions, and the option of Google translate.These improvements are designed to allow families the ability to easily navigate the website and compare data across the state.“As parents, we need access to clear, simple, and easy-to-understand data about how our kids are performing and how our schools and educators are best meeting their needs,” said Sarah Carpenter, Executive Director, The Memphis Lift. “The State Report Card is a helpful resource that helps parents know how they can get involved and ensure their children are receiving a high-quality education.”The report card is split into several categories including achievement, attendance, graduation rate, and more. Additionally, the report has financial information and staff to student ratio breakdowns. Each category is further broken down to show disparities between different student categories including race, English language learners, and students with disabilities.The State Report Card also has a feature that allows parents to review how the data has changed since 2019, right before the COVID-19 pandemic. That feature will be helpful to parents who want to review how pandemic learning loss has impacted the district.“The Tennessee State Report Card is an invaluable tool to help us use data to find opportunities to advance learning opportunities for our students,” said Dr. Versie Hamlett, Director of Schools, Fayette County Schools. “As educators, we benefit from assessing and adjusting our strategies to help students get the best possible education, and the Report Card helps us measure our investments to ensure the best educational possible outcomes.”This year's State Report Card arrived later than year's past.  TDOE released the the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 State Report Cards in September.