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A Simplified School District Report Card

Parents, educators and legislators in Illinois will be better able to compare school performance thanks to a new state law signed by Governor Pat Quinn.

Until now, the report cards that are supposed to indicate how well schools are performing were often more than a dozen pages long and proved to be confusing to read.

They will be revised under the new law.  By the fall of 2013, they'll be slimmed down to two pages with colorful graphics.

State Senator Kim Lightford (D-Maywood) said they will also contain more information.

"What's the overall environment of the school? What does the principal have to say? These are the things that are really important," Lightford said.  "And it will bring about a little competition.  Because the school down the street will know what the other school is doing.”

The revamped report cards will include information such as the number of Advanced Placement courses a high school offers, dropout rates, and student body demographics.

Thanks to Illinois Public Radio

Rich is TSPR's News Director.