Evaluation institute releases 252 schools report cards on-line

Report Cards (SRCs) of 252 schools comprising Independent, Private Arabic, and International Schools are now available on the Supreme Education Council (SEC) website, the Council announced in a media statement Sunday. Announcing this in a media statement on Sunday, the SEC said, the SRCs uploaded on the website www.education.gov.qa  are designed to assist parents and other users like education communities in accessing and considering recent information about students' performance in Qatar schools. Data from the SRC allow for meaningful discussion and involvement with the schools' leaders and teachers about the many aspects covered by the card, the SEC said. Each card includes descriptive and evaluative data about the school and provides indicators of the school's performance over time and also its performance compared to that of other schools. The report cards enable parents to critically examine schools, make judgments about them subsequently make informed decisions and choices about their children's schooling. The cards constitute an important part of the Evaluation Institute s accountability and monitoring responsibilities which designed to contribute to school improvement and development. Commenting on the importance of the SRC and its educational value, the Director of the Evaluation Institute Dr Hamda Hassan Al Sulaiti, said "The SRC is one of the important mechanisms by which Qatar's educational system can develop and be held accountable. "The Evaluation Institute continues to introduce and improve evaluation processes and techniques which support independence, accountability, choice and variety - the four fundamentals underpinning Qatar's educational initiative and its development of teaching and learning. "The cards are particularly useful to parents with regard to the school options available to them, helping them interact with the school, impacting on its performance, and ultimately using the information to make sound decisions and choices about their child's education." Al Sulaiti stressed on the increased importance of the card in its seventh year of production, its function of facilitating and strengthening home-school interactions and communications. Productive partnerships between home and school are keys to improving the quality of education, with each having important roles in helping realize the objectives of Qatar's education initiative, the SEC statement said. The results from the Qatar Comprehensive Educational Assessments (QCEA) and from Qatar's participation in international testing programmes have highlighted the urgent need to improve students' attitudes towards, and performance in, such tests, as well as the vital part parents play in encouraging and supporting their children's achievement on the tests. Director of the School Evaluation Office (SEO) Aysha Al Hashemi said the release of the SRCs on the website of the SEC will shortly be followed by the distribution of electronic copies of the reports. A CD containing the 252 different SRCs is being prepared and copies of the CD will be sent to all schools. Al Hashemi said the SRC release is the seventh consecutive annual publication and aimed at empowering parents and community by facilitating their access to accurate, credible, and sound data on a range of key indicators and areas of quality schools. Such information allows parents to form judgments about schools, and compare schools' performance over time and with each other. Noting that examining the data allows parents to follow-up on performance and changes that may occur and impact on school performance, Al Hashemi urged parents and interested community members to get involved and follow-through so as to take advantage this opportunity of making informed educational decisions and positively influencing and enhancing children s school experiences. The school report card itself contains a wide array of data, including information on students' academic achievement (average score for students in the Qatar Comprehensive Educational Assessment tests (QCEA), and measures parents' and students  satisfaction with the school, its curriculum, teaching approaches, activities and services. It also contains important information about school environment, student behaviour and homework issues, as well as parents' about matters such as the value of homework assigned, the quality, frequency and nature of parent school interactions and communications. The last section of the SRC comprises selected trend information tracking performance for each of the school years from 2008- 09 through to 2010-11 and also comparing the school's recent year s performance with that of its previous year's performance, in addition to the school s performance in the International Tests. The nature and comprehensiveness of the SRC data underlines the Evaluation Institute's strong commitment to transparency and accountability whilst constructively contributing to the improvement of schools in Qatar. The SRC is issued in Arabic for all Schools, Except for International Schools is issued in English. The SRC will be accompanied by a guide to parents. The guide is in both English and Arabic and helps describe, explain and facilitate understanding of the contents of the card. The guide too, also serves as mechanism by which greater school home communications and co-operation occurs as it provides a common understanding of the SRC. The survey information was collected by data collected by the Evaluation Institute s Data Collection and Management officers who undertook special collections and school site visits. (qna)