The Department of Education released its third annual Iowa School Report Card Thursday. Department director Ryan Wise says it’s designed to give a look at individual schools within a district.

The schools don’t get a letter grade; they instead are given a rating.

 

Wise says some minor changes were made this year to include more schools in scores and ratings. Wise says they also added two categories in how schools are judged on closing achievement gaps.

 

Wise calls the report card a starting point for parents to evaluate their schools.

Wise says improvements will continue  to the Iowa School Report Card, particularly after Iowa finalizes a new state plan for school accountability and support under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaced the No Child Left Behind Act.