Improve Academic Scoreboard

November 26, 1985

A BETTER ``academic scoreboard`` is needed to measure how well a school system is doing its job to educate students and where it needs to do better.

The U.S. Education Department scoreboard comparing spending and quality of state educational systems is well-intentioned, but not fully meaningful since states don`t play by the same rules.

For example, comparing Student Achievement Test scores is difficult because Florida tests a good cross-section of all students, good, average and poor, while other, higher-scoring states test only a small group of top-ranked students. Also, although Florida lags in average teacher pay, comparison is difficult because Florida figures don`t include factors such as fringe benefits.

To make the rules uniform for everybody, the national Council of Chief State School Officers has come up with a plan to create ``educational indicators`` to rank the states more fairly.

Some indicators would measure input into the school system -- the level of teacher salaries, per-pupil expenditures and length of school day and year.

Other indicators would be the schools` output or accomplishments -- percentage of students who graduate or get equivalency diplomas, standardized state test scores and percentage of graduates going on to college, entering the military or getting jobs.

Finally, the educators want to measure other important factors such as school size and percentage of students who are poor, can`t speak English well or are handicapped.

Council members face a tough job in designing a scoreboard that will find wide acceptance. National school rankings have their shortcomings. They can be a tempting, too-convenient shortcut to more thorough analysis of school system strengths and weaknesses. They can ignore unique local problems. And they can fail to measure certain subjective factors that defy a yardstick.

Nevertheless, the idea deserves a good try. Properly prepared, such rankings could provide educators, politicians and parents with greater insight into what kind of bang they are getting for the taxpayer`s buck.

Academic scoreboards, like those on the football field, can show who`s winning the game and also provide the incentive for all players to strive to improve their performance.

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