UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - September 3, 2024 - Dear Chief State School Officer: State and local report cards update and recommendations

Oct 15, 2026

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Letter from the U.S. Department of Education to Chief State School Officers explaining how State and local report cards support stakeholders by providing a consistent framework for evaluating educational progress. It summarizes findings from targeted monitoring of Title I public reporting requirements under ESEA and provides recommendations to strengthen implementation. It also updates required report card information for chronic absenteeism and military-connected students, including data collection changes, definitions, and timing guidance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Background on State and Local Report Cards

Monitoring findings and purpose of the letter

Updates: Chronic Absenteeism and Military-Connected Students

Chronic Absenteeism reporting requirements and timing

Military-Connected Students definition updates

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION OFFICE OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION September 3, 2024 Dear Chief State School Officer: State and local report cards help ensure local educational agencies (LEAs), parents, families, educators, and communities have critical data and a common framework for gauging educational progress and success. Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) requires States to annually share this important information. Last year, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) conducted targeted monitoring of the ESEA’s public reporting requirements—specifically, the requirements for States to: 1) prepare and widely share report cards that provide information on State, LEA, and school performance and progress in an understandable, uniform format; and 2) publicly report the State’s progress in ensuring that low-income and minority children in Title I schools are not served at disproportionate rates by ineffective, out-of-field, and inexperienced teachers. This letter shares what we learned from this effort and offers recommendations for State leaders working to strengthen their implementation of ESEA requirements. (You can find results ofour 2023 targeted monitoring of ESEA’s public reporting requirements 1 and all of our Title I monitoring reports here ; and additional resources regarding report cards here.) Background on State and Local Report Cards ESEA section 1111(h) requires each State to annually publish State and local report cards that include information about public schools, including student and school performance metrics, accountability data (e.g., whether schools have been designated for improvement activities), per-pupil expenditures, educator qualifications, and other relevant information.2 The ESEA requires State and local report cards to be: • Concise; • Presented in an understandable and uniform format; • Accessible to the public, including parents and persons with disabilities; and • To the extent practicable, provided in a language that parents can understand. Updates: Chronic Absenteeism and Military-Connected Students In addition to the recommendations below, I want to take this opportunity to provide two updates on the information required on State and local report cards. These updates are due to a change in the 1 To find the targeted monitoring letters, search for “targeted monitoring” using the search box in the right-hand corner of the table. 2 The local report card must include all information for the LEA as a whole and for each school served by the LEA. Thus, although individual school report cards are not explicitly required under the ESEA, information about each school is required to be included on the local report card. In practice, most States meet the local report card requirements by publishing separate LEA and school report cards. Department’s data collection processes, which impact what data States must include on report cards, and revisions to the ESEA in 2020. Chronic Absenteeism. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic absenteeism rates (e.g., students who miss 10 percent or more of the school year) have significantly increased, as reflected in data reported by States to the Department. Therefore, providing timely and actionable data on this topic is critical. Beginning in the 2017-2018 school year, data on chronic absenteeism is no longer collected through the Department’s Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC); instead, States submit these data to the Department through the annual EDFacts collection under section 203(c)(1) of the Department of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3413(c)(1)), as described in EDFacts file specification 195. Therefore, State and local report cards must annually include the chronic absenteeism data submitted to the Department in EDFacts file 195 . Reporting this data will promote consistency across the State educational agency (SEA) and LEAs in how t

FAQs

What is the purpose of State and local report cards under the ESEA?

They help ensure local educational agencies and communities have critical data using a common framework to gauge educational progress and success. The reports include performance metrics, accountability data, per-pupil expenditures, educator qualifications, and related information.

What changed for reporting chronic absenteeism data?

Chronic absenteeism data are no longer collected through the Department’s CRDC beginning in 2017–2018. States submit the data through the annual EDFacts collection (file specification 195), and report cards must include the annual EDFacts-submitted chronic absenteeism data.

How does the definition of “military connected” change under the 2020 amendment?

The definition was modified by removing “active duty” and focusing on a student’s status as having a parent who is a member of the Armed Forces as defined in 10 U.S.C. 101(a)(4). At minimum, the student group includes parents on “active service” under 10 U.S.C. 101(d)(3).

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai