Mayors’ Report Card on Education Released at USCM

The Bush Institute at the George W. Bush Presidential Center has released the Mayors’ Report Card on Education, a collection of data designed to help mayors better engage their city’s education landscape. The Report Card, part of the Bush Institute’s 2015 focus on increased student achievement, was presented at the U.S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington.

“It’s important to know how Dallas schools compare with other large cities, since our seniors compete with their peers across the nation” said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. “This report card is a fabulous piece of work by the George W. Bush Institute and I thank them for it.”

The report covers key topics in public education in Dallas and 32 other cities, providing an educational “snapshot” of each, showing enrollment and school revenue, student achievement and early childhood data, teacher information and statistics on college and career readiness. The cities were chosen based on comparable student achievement data and information of interest to mayors.

“I’d particularly like to thank Mayor Rawlings for asking that we bring information like this to his fellow mayors and for his interest in this project,” said Margaret Spellings, President of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and former U.S. Secretary of Education. The Mayors’ Report Card is a starting point for compiling available data from multiple sources, understanding what is found in the data and helping inform mayors and city leaders about how to help prepare students for success in college and the workforce.

The report also describes four key indicators:

• A high-quality education for every student
• Supported pathways to college and career
• Early childhood education that prepares students for the classroom
• Effective educators and principals

“Education is a continuum that spans from pre-kindergarten through college,” the report notes. “When our schools fail to prepare students, colleges, universities, businesses, and students themselves pay the price for being unprepared.”

Read the complete report here