Disaggregation is an important way the school can show it is helping all students, especially those most in need. Former BRS, especially those who received the award after 1995, must show how they have helped other schools to improve and show how they themselves have improved since they received the award last. Whenever possible, schools should provide actual participation rates, for example, the percentage of parents that participate in the school or the numbers of students in an extracurricular program. Schools need to pay particular attention in answering questions about special education students, for example, A2, A5, and C3. In Section H on assessment, the schools must report how they assess the progress of all students.
Some schools have significant problems with the assessment section.
In the narrative section, schools need to explain what the tests mean. Do not provide raw data only. That statement is especially true of state tests. Approximately 25 percent of the almost 180 schools that did not get site visits in 1999-2000 did not get a visit based on their assessment data. Either the scores were not high enough or they presented the data in such a way that even the testing experts on the National Review Panel could not interpret them.