This manual provides a step-by-step methodology for promoting community participation in improving learning in local schools. The Civic Engagement for Education Reform in Central America (CERCA) School Report Card (SRC) approach empowers local school communities to gather information on the quality and conditions of teaching and learning in their schools. They can use this information to guide decisions about appropriate community-level actions to improve educational service delivery. To create a SRC, teachers, parents, and students work together entirely within local communities to collect, analyze, and act upon the information they collect about their schools. Community participation is voluntary. No external incentives are offered to communities other than limited technical assistance in organizing SRC activities. The SRC was piloted in 42 communities in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with the following results: (1) There was increased community-member involvement in the allocation of local resources to improving educational quality; (2) Students, teachers, and community members learned how to document, analyze, and report information on conditions of teaching and learning in their schools; (3) Adults and students were mobilized to work together on school improvement plans that have specific, measurable results; and (4) Tangible outcomes of improved educational quality were observed in local communities. (Contains 1 footnote.)