MDE Rolls out Phase II of Online Parent Dashboard for School Transparency

January 23, 2019

LANSING - Visitors to the state's Parent Dashboard for School Transparency now can look up everything from a school's Advanced Placement and mentorship programs to services for English learners and students with disabilities under Phase II of the Michigan Department of Education's (MDE) online resource.

Nearly 20 such "Points of Pride" now are available in the new "School Services and Offerings" area of the Parent Dashboard for School Transparency, released today.

"In Michigan, thousands of stakeholders called for information that was easier to understand and relied on more than just state test scores," Interim State Superintendent Sheila Alles said. "We listened. The Parent Dashboard received more than a million views its first year. This updated version gives families and others an even more complete picture of how their child's school is performing and what services it's providing."

"This valuable tool gives greater transparency of school data and is helping Michigan on its way to becoming a Top 10 education state in 10 years."

A collaboration of MDE and the state's Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI), the Parent Dashboard (www.MISchoolData.org/ParentDashboard) contains important school-level information, including 20 original factors or measures that parents and other stakeholders have indicated are important to them when evaluating a school's quality.

The tool also can compare a school's performance with the average performance of other similar Michigan schools, including charter schools.

Original dashboard metrics include:

• state assessment performance and progress;
• students with on-track attendance;
• English learner progress;
• graduation and dropout rates; and
• advanced coursework

New metrics include:

• teacher retention;
• qualified teaching staff; and
• teacher years of experience

School district-reported Points of Pride include availability of Advanced Placement; Career Technical Education (CTE); International Baccalaureate; music; and student mentorship programs, as well as clubs, school-sponsored sports, and world languages.

Schools submit Points of Pride through Michigan's Education Entity Master, developed by CEPI, and a few items come from data already collected from schools through the Michigan Student Data System. Local districts helped develop this system with MDE and CEPI, and use it to report state and federal data.

Also available in Phase II are enhanced school search and mapping functions and the ability to view the schools included in peer-average calculations for each metric (by distance or characteristic).

The State Board of Education in 2017 called for a parent-friendly dashboard showing a more complete picture of how their students and schools are faring.

The dashboard was designed to provide:

• one location, viewed from a computer or mobile device, where parents and caregivers can view building-level information; and
• a more balanced picture of school quality that doesn't rely on test scores alone.

While the dashboard is not part of Michigan's formal accountability plan under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), it complements other state accountability tools, such as the ESSA-required State Report Card, to give parents and communities clear answers about measures that matter to them.

Phase III's rollout has not yet been scheduled, but ongoing upgrades will be made to the Parent Dashboard.

Users may provide feedback about the dashboard within internal links or by emailing

MDE-ParentDashboard@michigan.gov.