The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement has a new internet tool that allows direct comparison of schools with similar demographics.
Georgia Schools Like Mine, unveiled Monday, wrestles complicated data produced by the Georgia Department of Education into a simple interface that allows one to compare student performance at a handful of schools with like demographics.
It's the latest in GOSA's growing school accountability oeuvre, which includes easy-to-read "A-F" school report cards, longitudinal tracking of each high school's graduates and earnings of college graduates by college and major.
You can check out The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Ultimate Atlanta School Guide here. It allows you to find details of your child’s school - from the average years of teacher experience to test scores.
Teachers have criticized the GOSA reports as too simplistic, and others have found the agency's scoring tougher than in other states. But GOSA has pushed forward, seeing its role as one of oversight and transparency. It has accrued power and influence under two Republican governors since its founding under Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, and now has a budget of around $20 million.
Accountability can be controversial. For instance, the Maryland legislature may limit measures of school effectiveness in favor of factors like teacher satisfaction.
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