As requirements placed on schools continue to grow, so does the availability of information regarding those schools.
The Nevada Department of Education announced Monday a new method of collecting school statistics along with a new method of reporting them.
"You can go to the Web site and the data you see, down to the school level, is consistent," said state superintendent Keith Rheault. "That to me is comparing apples to apples and that's what you want to see."
Although districts have compiled accountability reports since 1990, the information was never presented in a uniform manner.
However, under federal No Child Left Behind legislation, all schools must report the same information. Funding from the 2003 Nevada Legislature allowed the education department to work with Otis Educational Systems in Atlanta to create the state's first Web site dedicated to school accountability.
"This will be unprecedented access to parents regarding school accountability," Rheault said. "We've never been able to deliver the accountability information in this format that was accurate and reliable."
The Web site allows the user to research information on any school or district in the state ranging from a demographic profile to drop-out rates as well as a fiscal report, outlining where and how money is spent.
For example, in Carson City, 51 percent of the students are male. 3.3 percent of them are Indian, 2.6 percent are Asian, 24.7 percent are Hispanic, 1.2 percent are black and whites make up 68.2 percent of the population.
The site also allows comparisons between districts or individual schools.
A copy of Carson City's accountability report is available on the district's Web site, www.carsoncityschools.com as well as the state Web site at www.nevadareportcard.com.
A copy of each of the individual school's reports will be sent home with students at the beginning of the school year for parents to review.
ON THE NET
To find Carson City School District's accountability report go to: www.carsoncityschools.com
To find accountability reports for Carson City schools and others throughout the state go to the State Department of Education's Web site at:
www.nevadareportcard.com.
