[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 695 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 695

       To provide parents, taxpayers, and educators with useful, 
                  understandable school report cards.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 4, 2001

  Mr. Dorgan (for himself, Mr. Bingaman, and Mr. Byrd) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
       To provide parents, taxpayers, and educators with useful, 
                  understandable school report cards.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Standardized School Report Card 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) According to the report ``Quality Counts 99'', by 
        Education Week, 36 States require the publishing of annual 
        report cards on individual schools, but the content of the 
        report cards varies widely.
            (2) The content of most of the report cards described in 
        paragraph (1) does not provide parents with the information the 
        parents need to measure how their school or State is doing 
        compared with other schools and States.
            (3) Ninety percent of taxpayers believe that published 
        information about individual schools would motivate educators 
        to work harder to improve the schools' performance.
            (4) More than 60 percent of parents and 70 percent of 
        taxpayers have not seen an individual report card for their 
        area school.
            (5) Dissemination of understandable information about 
        schools can be an important tool for parents and taxpayers to 
        measure the quality of the schools and to hold the schools 
        accountable for improving performance.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to provide parents, taxpayers, and 
educators with useful, understandable school report cards.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    The terms used in this Act have the meanings given the terms under 
section 14101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

SEC. 5. REPORT CARDS.

    (a) State Report Cards.--Each State educational agency receiving 
assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
shall produce and widely disseminate an annual report card for parents, 
the general public, teachers and the Secretary of Education, in easily 
understandable language, with respect to elementary schools and 
secondary schools in the State. The report card shall contain 
information regarding--
            (1) student performance on statewide assessments in 
        language arts, mathematics and history, plus any other subject 
        areas in which the State requires assessments, including--
                    (A) comparisons with students from different school 
                districts within the State, and, to the extent 
                possible, comparisons with students throughout the 
                Nation;
                    (B) a statement on the 3-year trend in the 
                percentage of students performing at the basic, 
                proficient, and advanced levels; and
                    (C) a statement of the percentage of students not 
                tested and a listing of categories of the reasons why 
                such students were not tested;
            (2) attendance and 4-year graduation rates, the number of 
        students completing advanced placement courses, and the annual 
        school dropout rate, as calculated by procedures conforming 
        with the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core 
        of Data;
            (3) professional qualifications of teachers in the State, 
        including the percentage of class sections taught by teachers 
        who are not certified to teach in that subject, and the 
        percentage of teachers with emergency or provisional 
        certification;
            (4) average class size in the State broken down by school 
        level;
            (5) school safety, including the safety of school 
        facilities, incidents of school violence and drug and alcohol 
        abuse, and the number of instances in which a student was 
        determined to have brought a firearm to school under the State 
        law described in the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 and the 
        incidence of student suspensions and expulsions;
            (6) to the extent practicable, parental involvement, as 
        measured by the extent of parental participation in school 
        parental involvement policies described in section 1118(b) of 
        the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
            (7) student access to technology, including the number of 
        computers for educational purposes, the number of computers per 
        classroom, and the number of computers connected to the 
        Internet;
            (8) information regarding the schools identified by the 
        State for school improvement; and
            (9) other indicators of school performance and quality.
    (b) School Report Cards.--Each school receiving assistance under 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, or the local 
educational agency serving that school, shall produce and widely 
disseminate an annual report card for parents, the general public, 
teachers and the State educational agency, in easily understandable 
language, with respect to elementary or secondary education, as 
appropriate, in the school. The report card shall contain information 
regarding--
            (1) student performance in the school on statewide 
        assessments in language arts, mathematics, and history, plus 
        any other subject areas in which the State requires 
        assessments, including--
                    (A) comparisons with other students within the 
                school district, in the State, and, to the extent 
                possible, in the Nation;
                    (B) a statement on the 3-year trend in the 
                percentage of students performing at the basic, 
                proficient, and advanced levels; and
                    (C) a statement of the percentage of students not 
                tested and a listing of categories of the reasons why 
                such students were not tested;
            (2) attendance and 4-year graduation rates, the number of 
        students completing advanced placement courses, and the annual 
        school dropout rate, as calculated by procedures conforming 
        with the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core 
        of Data;
            (3) professional qualifications of the school's teachers, 
        including the percentage of class sections taught by teachers 
        not certified to teach in that subject, and the percentage of 
        teachers with emergency or provisional certification;
            (4) average class size in the school broken down by school 
        level, and the enrollment of students compared to the rated 
        capacity of the school;
            (5) school safety, including the safety of the school 
        facility, incidents of school violence and drug and alcohol 
        abuse, the number of instances in which a student was 
        determined to have brought a firearm to school under the State 
        law described in the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994, and the 
        incidence of student suspensions and expulsions;
            (6) parental involvement, as measured by the extent of 
        parental participation in school parental involvement policies 
        described in section 1118(b) of the Elementary and Secondary 
        Education Act of 1965;
            (7) student access to technology, including the number of 
        computers for educational purposes, the number of computers per 
        classroom, and the number of computers connected to the 
        Internet;
            (8) information regarding whether the school has been 
        identified for school improvement; and
            (9) other indicators of school performance and quality.
    (c) Model School Report Cards.--The Secretary of Education shall 
use funds made available to the Office of Educational Research and 
Improvement to develop a model school report card for dissemination, 
upon request, to a school, local educational agency, or State 
educational agency.
    (d) Disaggregation of Data.--Each State educational agency or 
school producing an annual report card under this section shall 
disaggregate the student data reported under subsection (a) or (b), as 
appropriate, in the same manner as results are disaggregated under 
section 1111(b)(3)(I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965.
    (e) Dissemination and Accessibility of Report Cards.--
            (1) State report cards.--State annual report cards under 
        subsection (a) shall be disseminated to all elementary schools, 
        secondary schools, and local educational agencies in the State, 
        and made broadly available to the public through means such as 
        posting such reports on the Internet and distribution to the 
        media, and through public agencies.
            (2) Local and school report cards.--Local educational 
        agency report cards and elementary school and secondary school 
        report cards under subsection (b) shall be disseminated to all 
        elementary schools and secondary schools served by the local 
        educational agency and to all parents of students attending 
        such schools, and shall be made broadly available to the public 
        through means such as posting such report on the Internet and 
        distribution to the media, and through public agencies.
    (f) Grants Authorized.--The Secretary of Education shall award a 
grant to each State having a State report card that meets the 
requirements of subsection (a) to enable the State to annually publish 
report cards for each elementary and secondary school that receives 
funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and is 
served by the State. The amount of a State grant under this section 
shall be equal to the State's allotment under subsection (g)(2).
    (g) Reservations and Allotments.--
            (1) Reservations.--From the amount appropriated under 
        subsection (j) to carry out this Act for each fiscal year the 
        Secretary of Education shall reserve--
                    (A) \1/2\ of 1 percent of such amount for payments 
                to the Secretary of the Interior for activities 
                approved by the Secretary of Education consistent with 
                this Act, in schools operated or supported by the 
                Bureau of Indian Affairs on the basis of their 
                respective needs for assistance under this Act; and
                    (B) \1/2\ of 1 percent of such amount for payments 
                to outlying areas, to be allotted in accordance with 
                their respective needs for assistance under this Act, 
                as determined by the Secretary of Education, for 
                activities approved by the Secretary of Education that 
                are consistent with this Act.
            (2) State allotments.--From the amount appropriated under 
        subsection (j) for a fiscal year and remaining after amounts 
        are reserved under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Education 
        shall allot to each State having a State report card meeting 
        the requirements of subsection (a) an amount that bears the 
        same relationship to such remainder as the number of public 
        school students enrolled in elementary schools and secondary 
        schools in the State bears to the total number of such students 
        so enrolled in all States.
    (h) Within-State Allocations.--Each State educational agency 
receiving a grant under subsection (f) shall allocate the grant funds 
that remain after carrying out the activities required under subsection 
(e)(1) to local educational agencies in the State.
    (i) State Reservation of Funds.--Each State educational agency 
receiving a grant under subsection (f) may reserve --
            (1) not more than 10 percent of the grant funds to carry 
        out activities described in subsections (a) and (b), and 
        subsection (e)(1), for fiscal year 2002; and
            (2) not more than 5 percent of the grant funds to carry out 
        activities described in sections (a) and (b), and subsection 
        (e)(1), for fiscal year 2003 and each of the 3 succeeding 
        fiscal years.
    (j) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this Act, $5,000,0000 for fiscal year 2002, 
and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal 
years.
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