Frequently Asked Questions

Why are Arkansas School Performance Reports (School Report Cards) provided to parents? Top | Back to FAQs
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 Arkansas Department of Education annually prepares and publishes a school performance report for each individual public school in the state, and distributes the report to every parent or guardian of a child in kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) in the public schools of Arkansas. The annual school performance report is based on reliable statistical information uniformly required to be collected and submitted by each local school district to the department and is published in a format that can be easily understood by parents or guardians. The annual school performance report is produced in compliance with state and federal mandates.

How does the Arkansas School Performance Report differ from a student report card? Top | Back to FAQs
The report card that a student receives is a report of individual student progress by subject and grade level, but the annual school performance report is a report of progress on the quality of education in the state, district, and school on seven accountability indicators. These accountability indicators include: achievement, access, retention, discipline, demographics, choice, and economics.

What is different about the 2007 edition of the Arkansas School Performance Report? Top | Back to FAQs
New features of the 2007 Arkansas School Performance Report are described on the New This Year page.

Where can I find detailed definitions to unfamiliar words? Top | Back to FAQs
Because some of the terms may not be familiar to all readers, we have included a detailed glossary of terms that are aligned to each of the seven accountability indicators. These definitions are located on pages two through five of the report.

Why should students take the “Smart Core” Curriculum? Top | Back to FAQs
Arkansas students who take the recommended core courses or more continue to perform better on the American College Test (ACT) compared with students who take less than the recommended core. The recommended core courses, according to ACT, include four years or more of English, three years or more of math, three years or more of social studies, and three years or more of natural sciences.

Why don't the sums of the percent of students always equal 100? Top | Back to FAQs
In some instances, the totals do not equal 100 percent because of rounding.

Why do the assessment scores in the Arkansas School Performance Report differ from the assessment scores released in July of this year? Top | Back to FAQs
The 2007 Arkansas School Performance Report is aligned with federal regulations, which exclude students (highly mobile) who were not enrolled in a particular school for a full academic year for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) purposes. Assessment scores released in July of this school year include all students, including students identified as highly mobile. Please note that assessment scores for students taking alternate assessments were reported separately in July.

Are all students included? Top | Back to FAQs
Calculations include students tested in the regular test administration, as well as special services and limited-English proficient students who are tested using an alternative portfolio exam. Calculations exclude students who are highly mobile (enroll in the school after October 1 of the test year).

Why is information missing for my child's school? Top | Back to FAQs
Blanks in the report indicate that: the information was not available at the time of printing; the information does not apply to a specific school's grade levels; or the number of students tested was less than 40.

Why are some schools that were on the report last year not on the report this year? Top | Back to FAQs
Some of the schools that were on the Arkansas School Performance Report last year will not appear on this report because they were consolidated to create new schools. The definition of a new school is any school which meets at least one of the following conditions:
1. Two (or more) existing schools close and combine to form a new school;
2. An existing school increases its number of students by at least 50% when compared to the school’s enrollment at the beginning of the previous school year;
3. An existing school has at least one tested grade added to the school since the previous year’s assessment;
4. An existing school has at least one tested grade removed from the school since the previous year’s assessment.

What are the sources of data for this report? Top | Back to FAQs
The data sources for this report include the National Office for Research, Measurement and Evaluation Systems; the Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN); and the adequate yearly progress (AYP) database.

What disaggregated data is available on this report? Top | Back to FAQs
This report is broken down by several subgroups. The subgroups are African-American students, Hispanic students, Caucasian students, economically disadvantaged students, students with disabilities, students with limited English proficiency, migrant students, male students and female students.

Why is my school's average ACT score different than reported previously? Top | Back to FAQs
ACT data were calculated using the highest composite or subtest score reported for each 12th grade student who completed the ACT. Student grade level was determined from data submitted to the Arkansas Department of Education by school sites. This differs from the manner in which school averages were calculated by ACT, Inc., and reported to local schools. This method of calculating average ACT is parallel to the method used in the grade inflation rate and the remediation rate.

What does Advanced Placement (AP) Course Data represent? Top | Back to FAQs
AP course enrollment (number of students taking AP courses) numbers appear as reported in APSCN enrollment data. The number of students taking AP exams and the number scoring 3, 4 or 5 on AP exams were reported to the ADE by College Board, Inc. Students enrolled in more than one AP course and taking more than one AP exam are counted for each exam taken and each score of 3, 4 or 5.

My school was appealing the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status under the No Child Left Behind Act. Is this the final AYP status? Top | Back to FAQs
Yes, these data reflect post-appeals AYP status.

How are Grade Inflation and Remediation Rate calculated? Top | Back to FAQs
These data were calculated as indicated in the Grade Inflation documentation linked to the report card. All other indicator data were provided by the Division of Research and Technology Data Administration at the Arkansas Department of Education.

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