Morgan Polikoff (USC Rosier School of Education, FutureEd) and some folks at the reformy Center for Reinventing Public Education along with the Data Quality Campaign wanted to put together a report on what state report card sites had to say about pandemic learning loss trajectories.
I agree that the report card websites are confusing and not user-friendly, however I do have a use-case you didn't mention. I worked for a nonprofit that collaborated with schools, and received funding from many sources. The report cards were one of several sources of data we used for strategic planning when considering which schools were most in need of our programming. We also used them for writing funding applications, which normally require a statement of need and then a discussion of the impact of your programming.
There are definitely big improvements that could be made to help decision-makers who aren't directly tied into the school system.
I agree that the report card websites are confusing and not user-friendly, however I do have a use-case you didn't mention. I worked for a nonprofit that collaborated with schools, and received funding from many sources. The report cards were one of several sources of data we used for strategic planning when considering which schools were most in need of our programming. We also used them for writing funding applications, which normally require a statement of need and then a discussion of the impact of your programming.
There are definitely big improvements that could be made to help decision-makers who aren't directly tied into the school system.