Every state publishes an annual report card for each public school, and the federal Every Student Succeeds Act requires it. The document usually includes test scores, growth ratings, graduation rates, and a set of demographic breakdowns, and requirements vary by state on how the pieces are weighted into a single rating. If you know what each metric measures before you open the page, the report card becomes a usable tool rather than a wall of jargon.
What is a school report card, and who makes it?
A school report card is the state education agency's annual summary of how a school performed. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, known as ESSA, every state must identify schools in need of improvement and publish data that lets parents compare performance. States choose their own labels — A through F letter grades, 1-to-5 star ratings, or descriptors like "meets expectations" — so a "B" in one state is not comparable to a "B" in another.
Report cards are typically refreshed once a year, after spring state assessments are scored. The data you see in a given winter usually reflects tests taken the previous spring, so treat it as a snapshot, not a live feed.
Which metrics matter most on a school report card?
Not every number on the page carries the same weight for your decision. Four sections do most of the real work.
| Metric | What it measures | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Proficiency rates | Share of students scoring at grade level on state tests | Shows where the school's students stand right now |
| Growth or progress rating | How much individual students improved year over year | Often says more about teaching than proficiency does |
| Graduation rate | Share of students earning a diploma in four years | The clearest long-run outcome for high schools |
| Chronic absenteeism | Share of students missing 10 percent or more of school days | A strong early-warning signal for both kids and climate |
Why is the growth rating often more useful than proficiency?
Proficiency is heavily shaped by circumstances a school does not control, including family income and how prepared students were when they arrived. A school serving many students in poverty can post modest proficiency while moving its students forward faster than a wealthier school with high scores. Growth ratings, which most states now include, track how much the same students improved from one year to the next. Researchers at Stanford University's Educational Opportunity Project have documented that growth and achievement often tell opposite stories about the same school. When the two conflict, growth is usually the better guide to what the adults in the building are doing.
How should you read the student group breakdowns?
ESSA requires states to break results out by student group — by race and ethnicity, economic status, disability status, and English-learner status. This is the section parents skim past most often, and it is arguably the most important. A school's overall average can hide a wide gap between groups. Look for two things: whether each group's numbers are improving, and whether the gaps between groups are narrowing or stable. If a school you are considering shows strong averages but weak results for the group your child belongs to, that pattern deserves a direct question at your next school visit.
What do the "identification" flags mean?
States must flag schools for "comprehensive support and improvement" — typically the lowest-performing 5 percent of Title I schools statewide, plus high schools with graduation rates below about 67 percent. A smaller set is flagged for "targeted support and improvement," which means one or more student groups is underperforming. Neither flag means a school is unsafe or that your child cannot thrive there. It means the state has directed extra attention and, usually, extra planning obligations to that campus. Ask the principal what changed after the flag appeared; the answer tells you a lot about how the school handles problems.
What is missing from a report card?
Plenty. Most report cards say little about arts offerings, school climate, teacher retention, class sizes, or how discipline is applied, even though those shape daily experience. Some states now add a climate survey result, but coverage is uneven. Treat the report card as one input among several, alongside a school visit, conversations with current parents, and whatever your state publishes on teacher experience and discipline data.
A five-step process for reading the page
- Find the summary rating, then set it aside and go one level deeper.
- Compare proficiency with growth for the grades your child will enter.
- Open the student group breakdowns and find the groups closest to your child's situation.
- Check chronic absenteeism and, for high schools, the four-year graduation rate.
- Write down two questions the data raises, and bring them to a tour or a parent-teacher meeting.
How much should the rating drive your decision?
Less than most parents assume. State ratings are blunt instruments designed for accountability systems, not family choice. A three-year trend in the metrics above tells you more than any single-year label, and no rating captures whether a particular teacher will connect with your particular child. Use the report card to form sharp questions, then get the answers from the people in the building.
How do you compare two schools fairly?
Start by matching the peer group. Comparing a school to the state average tells you little if its enrollment, language learner share, or poverty concentration differs sharply from the norm. Many state dashboards let you filter to "schools like this one," and where that tool exists, use it before drawing conclusions. Then compare trend lines rather than single years, because one cohort of test takers can swing a small school's numbers considerably; a school with 60 third graders moves its proficiency rate by several points with each classroom.
Keep an eye on enrollment itself, a metric parents rarely read. Steady or growing enrollment usually signals that local families are choosing to stay, while a multiyear decline pressures budgets regardless of test scores. Pair that with the teacher experience data some states publish — share of novice teachers, turnover rates — and you have a rough picture of stability that no rating label captures.
Finally, write down what the report card cannot tell you and go find it: how the school handles discipline, what electives survived the last budget cycle, whether the library is staffed. The parents who get the most from a report card treat it as the opening list of questions, not the closing answer.
Where do you find your school's report card?
Every state education agency hosts a lookup tool, usually searchable by school or district name, and the U.S. Department of Education maintains links to each state's system. Searching your state agency's name plus "report card" is the fastest path in most cases. Print or save the PDF version if you want to compare multiple years side by side, because some state dashboards only show the most recent cycle.
For more context, read How Teacher Evaluations Work: Rubrics, Observations and Student Growth.
For more context, read middle to high school transition.
For more context, read homeschooling requirements by state.