WHEN A light rail train in the Denver area approaches a station, located on the left and right sides of the front of the train flash. However, they don't flash at the same time; they alternate - left, right, left, right. On the driver's dashboard is a button labeled not flashing lights or station warning light, but wig/wag. And that's exactly what the do: they wig/wag as they approach the station. It couldn't get clearer. The light rail manufacturers are telling it like it In a similar fashion, state legislatures throughout the country are trying to provide clarity to their constituents. Not only are states requiring schools and districts to report certain data to their communities, but a growing number of states are also attempting to clarify what that information means. When a child is performing well according to his teacher, but his score on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills hovers around the 40th percentile, there's a certain amount of distrust created between parent and teacher. So it is with the relationship between schools and communities. Communities don't always trust that they're getting the full story about how their local schools are doing, because schools have never been required to really tell it like it is. Nearly every state requires districts or schools to report such common data as the level of education of teachers, the percentage of money spent on administration, the pupil/teacher ratios, the percentages of minority students, and so on. And much of this data about inputs is very informative. But not all such reports include data on student results. And even for states that do require the reporting of such outcome data as test scores, there is often no clear analysis of school quality. For parents and community members who know what to look for, many of these state-mandated report cards are helpful. For those who aren't familiar with what to look for, they can be extremely frustrating. Twenty-eight legislatures, however, have taken the next step and are trying to determine which measures best reflect the success of a school. These measures will then be used to create some sort of index that can give a picture of the quality of each school or district. In addition to test scores, states are using measures of growth from year to year and even such data as graduation and attendance rates. The states are taking such steps not to threaten or punish schools or to make them look bad, but in an effort to tell it like it is. They're trying to create a button on the dashboard that will say how each school is doing in clear language, not in euphemisms or obfuscations. Disaggregated Data A handful of states even require student achievement data to be broken out further. In Texas, the percentages of students who pass state assessments must be reported not only for the total number of students, but also for African American, Hispanic, white, and economically disadvantaged students. California lawmakers require student data to be reported by socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Oklahoma and Maryland require reporting by ethnicity and gender (Maryland also adds special education placement). Florida requires all schools to report student data by socioeconomic status and ethnicity, and it requires schools that have not attained grades of A or B to report data on low-performing students as well. Georgia and Wisconsin require reports broken out by ethnicity, gender, disability, language proficiency, and socioeconomic status. These state-mandated report cards aren't like the traditional ones that just go home to parents. These reports are also shared with the community at large. Moreover, users need not request long documents from administrative offices. The value-added type of reporting that 28 states now require is available on the Internet. In addition to these 28 states, a number of states, such as Tennessee, don't actually assign a grade or a category - such as exemplary or adequate - to school performance. …