How do you write a paper about the revolution that brought down Apartheid in South Africa if all of the books in your school library were published before 1994? How do you search the Internet for details about Gulf War Syndrome if none of the school’s computers work? Textbooks, a well-stocked library and computer technology are important tools for rigorous academic work. They encourage students’ and teachers’ interest in exploration and knowledge.
Two decades after the Internet created the possibility of endless information for students, schools find it increasingly difficult to keep libraries and school technology up to date. Now, particularly in the large public schools that struggle in low-income and minority communities, students are faced with decades-old textbooks, libraries that are under-resourced and understaffed, and classrooms that – even if they have computers – are not wired for the Web.
 The Center for Community Change published Individual School Report Cards: Empowering Parents and Communities to Hold Schools Accountable, in April, 2001. To receive a free copy of this report, write to:
Jamaal Ferguson -- CCC
1000 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Phone orders: Call Jamaal Ferguson in the publications department at (202) 339-9338.
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Can Resources Be Accurately Inventoried in Local School Report Cards?
In 1999, the Center for Community Change researched the use of school report cards in all fifty states. We looked, primarily at what states included on their web sites in the way of individual school data. In most states, these report cards were sent home to parents, or at least published in local newspapers as well as on the Internet.
Our survey revealed that few states required districts to compile and report on resources such as textbooks or libraries. And in fairness, devising a way to accurately report on the condition, number and adequacy of textbooks within a school is daunting. This is an area where student monitoring and activism is terrifically important!
What Do States Report?
Most don’t provide any information about school technology or student materials. But some do. Several states we looked at report the number of computers per student, the number of classrooms wired for the Internet, or whether there was computer access anywhere in the school.
The Arizona report card provides a per pupil expenditure on “classroom supplies,” which is interesting, though probably not a reliable indicator of too terribly much.
Delaware’s school report card template (check it out at http://issm.doe.state.de.us/profiles/) includes the size of the library collection, the percent of the collection less than 10 years old, whether the library has an on-line card catalog, the percent of the school day that the library is available to students on an unscheduled basis, and the number of hours per week outside the regular school day that the library is open.
In Pennsylvania, the state’s reporting template (www.paprofiles.org) includes a “Technology and Library Resources” section that includes the size of the library collection, computer availability and Internet service to classrooms, library and other parts of the school.
Books and computer access don’t make or break a school. But they do contribute to creating a climate that welcomes and encourages curiosity and exploration. A lack of adequate materials and access to “the world,” not only stifles that exploration, but – to many students, teachers and parents – signals not just a dearth of resources, but a lack of respect and expectations.
Leigh Dingerson is a policy specialist for the Center for Community Change in Washington D.C. She also works as an organizer and writer for the Center's Policy Unit on welfare reform work, and public school reform programs. She edits both CCC's "Organizing" and "Education Organizing" newsletters. Leigh formerly served as executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and a community organizer with ACORN. She is the co-author of the Co/Motion Guide to Youth-Led Social Change (1998, Alliance for Justice).
