By Cheryl Rodewig
Cheryl.Rodewig@thebayonet.com
Your students get regular report cards; now, their schools will, too.
Thanks to an initiative launched this month by the Department of Defense Education Activity, parents can check the progress of their children's schools with online, school-based report cards.
The report cards feature the school's TerraNova and SAT scores, demographics and improvement goals for the year.
"It's so 21st century - it opens DoDEA up to the world," said Debra Alexander, instructional systems support for Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools.
"I believe this is going to be an excellent tool for parents and students," Alexander said. "It's an effort for transparency and accountability, informing parents of our schools' goals, overall student achievement and continued growth DoDEA-wide. Parents may now arrive at their new assignments well-informed about the schools their children will attend."
The web-based program lets users assess individual schools and entire districts. Officials are planning to expand the site's features to include graduation and attendance rates.
"It is our duty and responsibility to educate the 'Soldier's child' to the highest level possible," said Dr. Dell McMullen, Fort Benning Schools superintendent. "We take this very seriously. And in that light, we are honored to provide this report card to our stakeholders as well as to the public.
"The Soldiers have entrusted us with their greatest asset - their children. The time has come that we openly and honestly show our ongoing results. The annual report card is the perfect accountability tool to do this."
One of the major benefits of the online report cards is that they allow parents to preview a school by its standards before PCSing to a new installation, Alexander said.
"Parents are consistently interested in the quality of our schools," she said. "What is the mission' Does every school have school improvement goals' Are they schools of excellence' Do they have high standards' No longer will parents have to wait for those answers."
Alexander reminded parents and guardians that more information, including steps to enroll students, contact details, curriculum standards and links to individual school Web sites, is always available at www.dodea.edu.
To see your school's or district's report card, log onto https://webapps.dodea.edu/SRC.
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