School Report Cards released

Parents to receive copies shortly

(PDF - 698 KB)

Doha, Qatar - March 6, 2006: The Supreme Education Council’s Evaluation Institute Director Mr. Adel Al Sayed, today announced that the 277 School Report Cards covering all Independent, Ministry of Education and private Arabic schools in Qatar are now available on the Supreme Education Council website: http://www.education.gov.qa/ (Arabic only)

“In the following weeks, schools will receive copies of their own SRC for distribution to their staff and, most importantly, to be sent to parents of every student from the school,” said Mr. Al Sayed. Schools will also receive a complete set of all School Report Cards produced. Whilst all parents can look forward to receiving their own copy, they can also access other schools’ School Report Cards either through the website or by arranging with their local principal to access the set of report cards of other schools.

The School Report Cards containing data on many important areas of schooling are in Arabic but are accompanied by a guide in both Arabic and English, which provides further explanation of how to view the material presented.

School Report Cards provide a range of information about selected important aspects of school. These include areas such as: student academic performance as reflected by student results on the QCEA (Qatar Comprehensive Educational Assessment) tests; the degree of parent and student satisfaction with the school; the teaching approaches used in the schools; the school’s facilities and activities; the homework expected of students and parents’ views on its worth; the frequency, nature and quality of parent-school communications and interactions; and, the background of the students and teachers at the school.

“They represent a very important step towards better schools and better understanding of our schools,” says Mr. Al Sayed “We are seeking principals’ cooperation and assistance in ensuring that parents get easy access to these School Report Cards. For principals, I would hope that you see, and use this as an ideal opportunity to create constructive discussions about the school and the education it provides with your school’s community and parents. It also provides the chance for principals and their staff to present additional relevant information about their school, its aims and achievements to complement that contained within the School Report Card.”

The School Report Cards are designed to help inform parents about school and involve them in schools so that they can become true partners in the educational processes. “We encourage parents and schools to actively participate and engage in genuine discussions about the School Report Cards and the school,” said Mr. Al Sayed. “By involving parents more, they exert constructive pressure on schools to be accountable. Parents can use the information in the School Report Card to get additional information from their local schools, and start conversations and discussions, ask questions, assess and make judgements about it and generally get involved with it.”

The School Report Cards have taken much effort to produce and many have played critical roles in their production, not the least being the students, parents, teachers, principals and other school staff who provided much of the important information through the annual surveys. Their input is vital and it is particularly important that parents and students have a voice on schooling matters that affect them.

It is intended that School Report Cards will be issued annually and “we are committed to improving the amount, type, timeliness and access to the information which they contain,” Mr. Al Sayed concludes

The distribution of parents’ copies of the School Report Card will take some time. However, if any parent hasn’t received their report by mid-March they may wish to contact their child’s school to find out when it is expected.

Comments and feedback about the report cards are welcome and they may be directed through the School Report Card email address: src@sec.gov.qa

The Supreme Education Council was established by Emiri decree in 2002. It serves as the primary authority on education policy in Qatar and, with its three Institutes, is leading the effort to transform the nation’s schools into a modern, world-class education system. More information about Qatar’s education reform effort, Education for a New Era, is available at www.education.gov.qa