The Rocky spoke about the state school report cards with former Denver school superintendent Jerry Wartgow and Kent Seidel, a professor at the college who specializes in using data to evaluate schools.

* How can parents use the report card information?

Wartgow said the data can be the basis for a discussion within the school community. Parents should ask the principal what specific information means for the school and "what are you doing about it?"

"Get some face time is what I'm saying," Wartgow said.

If parents are concerned about the data in a report card, they might want to visit other schools and make comparisons, he said.

* What else is not reflected in the report cards?

The views of parents. Parents should ask other parents how they feel about a school.

Also, ratings are based on aggregate scores at each school, but may not reflect how well individual children do, Wartgow said. A school that's good for one child may not be a good fit for another child.

* Should parents remove a student from a school that doesn't do well on the report card?

"I've had parents say to me, 'I have a child who loves school and is doing very well, but it's a poorly rated school, should I move him?' " Wartgow said. "And my response has been, 'I don't think I'd advise you to move him if they're doing well.' "

Seidel said parents may want to stick with a school that has low ratings but has a good leader committed to turning things around.

"You won't see that on the report card," Seidel said.