It’s report card time, when all is made plain to see about a student’s performance over the past grading period, but this time all will be made plain to see about the school, and the district it belongs to, where students earn those marks as well.

“On Friday ... most students in Richmond County Schools will be bringing home a North Carolina School report card, in addition to a student report card,” said RCS Public Information Officer Ashley Simmons. “Just as student report cards provide parents with information on their child’s performance, the North Carolina School Report Cards offer a snapshot of some of the important information about individual schools.”

Simmons said there is a wealth of information on the report cards, including school sizes, school’s Adequate Yearly Progress standings and student and teacher performances.

“These are reflective of the 2007-08 school year, so there will be some schools that won’t have a report card,” she said.

The Ninth Grade Academy and the Transitional School are in their first years of existence, so there was no data collected in the 2007-08 school year.

According to the state’s website for school report cards, they are provided for all public, charter and alternative schools operating during the designated school year.

“The School and District Report Cards are loosely structured around the State Board of Education’s Strategic Priorities,” the website reads. “The main areas are: School/District Profile; High Student Performance; Safe, Orderly and Caring Schools and the Quality of Teachers and Administrators.”

The website also offers tips for parents who are attempting to interpret the data.

It suggests parents pay attention to statistics concerning student testing performance improvement, school attendance, teacher qualification and retention and achievement gaps between ethnic and socio-economic groups, in addition to already mentioned data.

The report card released Friday will be in the form of a paper, “snapshot” version of the school data, Simmons explained.

Beginning today, the public is able to access a more detailed version of the data on-line along with additional information and resources at www.ncreportcards.org/src/.