Giving Compass' Take:

• In this story from Urban Institute, authors Constance A. Liberty and Theresa Anderson suggest the REMIQs, an alternative way to measure school quality.

• What is better about the REMIQs than simply using student test scores? In what ways could the REMIQs still be improved?

• To learn about how and why the majority of states inadequately support higher-poverty districts, click here.

Spurred by the Every Student Succeeds Act, districts and states across the country have developed school report cards that aim to designate school quality. Although these report cards include school demographics, services, and programs, they have been met with controversy because they largely focus on test scores. Parents and other interested stakeholders need a more complete understanding of school quality that includes student learning outside of test score achievement.

Test scores offer only one lens into schools’ activities. The “ideal” school has a positive impact on achievement and learning for all students, as well as on the development of deeper learning and life skills that will help students find long-term success. Conversations around school report cards have highlighted larger inequities among schools serving traditionally underserved students.

Enter the REMIQS (Robust and Equitable Measures to Identify Quality Schools) study, which aims to identify broader measures of student achievement and learning in traditional public high schools where many of the students have been historically underserved. These schools serve a substantial portion of students who are low income, nonwhite, need support learning English, or enter high school underprepared.

Read the full article about measuring school quality by Constance A. Lindsay and Theresa Anderson at Urban Institute