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How the grades are calculated |
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For K-8 schools multiple indicators weighted as follows: • Student proficiency at 30%; • Student growth at 50%; • English Language Learners’ growth and proficiency at 10%; and • Acceleration and readiness measures at 10%. For 9-12 schools multiple indicators weighted as follows: • Student proficiency at 30%; • Student growth at 20%; • English Language Learners’ growth and proficiency at 10%; • Graduation rate at 20%; and • College and career readiness measures at 20%. |
Over a month after most students started school, the Arizona State Board of Education is nearly ready to issue letter grades based on the new A-F Accountability System. The grading system was developed to inform parents about the quality of schools before the start of the academic school year.
The Arizona State Board of Education (SBE) is expected to set the AzMERIT cut scores today. Once that task is finally completed, the scores will be sent to schools.
While the grades will be sent to schools this week, parents will not be privy to them until the embargo is lifted on October 9. The embargo will allow schools time to appeal the grades if the need should arise. In light of the fact that only extraordinary circumstances such as hurricanes or fatal collisions will be accepted as a basis for an appeal, it is unlikely many grades will change.
[View 2017 AzMERIT scores here]
The SBE has notified schools that the “letter grades should remain confidential and schools should not release their letter grades.” Schools are instructed to “consult their legal counsel for guidance” should they receive a “public records request for the letter grades during the embargo period.”
Parents were supposed to be able to use the grades as a basis of comparison in order to make the best educational choice for their children. As the SBE advisory notes: “The grades do not take into consideration other things the school may be doing well, such as meeting students’ emotional/social or health needs.”
The SBE claims that the “calculations only include quantitative measures that are valid, reliable and comparable across all schools in the state and that aid in the meaningful differentiation of school performance,” in accordance with federal law. That claim is problematic given the fact that the AzMERIT test has yet to go through rigorous, or even marginally adequate testing, to ensure that it measures what it is supposed to measure and does not include bias.
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What parents want: |
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76% of respondents see advanced academic classes as highly important indicators of school quality. Notably, nearly as many say it’s also extremely or very important that schools offer extracurricular activities (70%) and art and music classes (71%). |
While the process for developing the “new” grading system has been opaque and painful, virtually nothing has changed. The grades are still based almost solely on students’ performance on the state approved high stakes assessments.
Arizona State Senator Steve Smith tried to and almost succeeded in allowing a rubric that would apply less weight to high stakes testing scores. His bill, S.B. 1209, passed though both chambers of the Legislature with only one “no” vote cast by Sen. Debbie Lesko. Despite the almost unanimous support, Governor Doug Ducey vetoed the bill and saved the status quo.
Gallup polling shows that standardized test scores rank low among the reasons parents pick schools. Parents rank many other features higher including music, art, extra-curricular activities, and advanced class offerings. Parents want their children to experience a well-rounded education. Despite this, Arizona leaders ignored parents by insisting that testing count for the lion’s share of a school’s letter grade.
Moreover, federal regulations do not require students to take standardized testing more than once in high school yet Arizona pushes testing in every grade starting in grade 3 through 12th grade. Also, the recently passed ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) doesn’t require one rating like A, B, or C.
Education activists and parents suggested that schools, through the Arizona Department of Education, could create a dashboard in order to share with parents all available and relevant information. Arizona’s education leaders ignored that suggestion. Instead they spent a lot of money to provide little information.
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Related articles: |
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Even After Reforms, Few Ineffective Teachers Are Identified As Ineffective State Board Of Education To Delay Award Of Letter Grades To Schools |
State Board of Education Policies and Process for Appealing A-F Letter Grades
1. Timing of submission: Appeals of final A-F letter grades must be submitted during the embargo period. Letter grades issued under appeal will designated as pending which will remain in place until the appeal is resolved. All appeals and supporting documentation must be submitted by 5:00pm on the last Friday of the embargo period to inbox@azsbe.az.gov
2. Notification of receipt: Applicants submitting an appeal will be notified via email from the Board within 72 hours of the application that all materials being successfully submitted. If an applicant does not receive notification, contact inbox@azsbe.az.gov and resubmit with a copy of a date-stamped email of the original submission.
3. Format of submission: Schools and LEAs seeking to appeal a letter grade must use the designated SBE Letter Grade Application form. Schools and LEAs may request either an expedited appeal (document review only) or a non-expedited appeal (document review and appearance before the Committee). Appearances before the Committee will be limited to fifteen minutes.
4. Supporting evidence: Supporting evidence for the appeal must be submitted with the application to be considered by the Committee. Supporting evidence may include, but is not limited to, benchmark assessment data showing an upward trend until the substantive event, a longitudinal demonstration of decreased instructional time due to attendance (ADM/ADA), media reports conferring the reason for appeal, or additional narrative from stakeholders.
a. Example A and Possible Evidence
At the beginning of the school year, the main road into town is washed out and must undergo months of repair, impacting transportation to and from school by about an hour each way; the school sees a significant decline in attendance rates as well as instructional time due to an added two hours of commuting time for many students. Prior year proficiency rates were significantly higher than the current year rates with no substantial changes in staffing or administration. The school also provides attendance data to support the decreased instructional time beyond their control.
b. Example B and Possible Evidence
A fatal car accident on the second morning of AzMERIT testing at an elementary school prohibited students from being dropped off on time to start testing. Students who witnessed the accident or the presence of emergency responders requested counseling. Many tests were unfinished and not scored, which decreased test participation. While the school has earned a “B” in the past two years, it received a “C” and many of their younger students performed lower than expected. The school submits written and signed accounts of the incident by parents and teachers. The school also submits a police report verifying the date and time of the accident which impacted students’ performance on the day of testing. The school submits benchmark assessment data to indicate that these same students scored much better on district-wide standardized assessments prior to the incident.
5. Grounds for appeal: Grounds for appeal are limited to:
a. Environmental Issues or Events b. Adverse Testing Conditions c. School or Community Emergency d. School Tragedy e. Other similar substantive events
6. Considerations by the Committee: The Committee will consider whether the grounds for appeal were:
a. Unrelated to school/student performance b. Outside the school’s control c. Timing reasonably related to student performance d. Substantial cause of overall school performance In addition, the Committee will consider whether the school took reasonable steps to minimize the impact of the event on assessment outcomes or if the opportunity did not exist for the school/LEA to minimize impact on students. The Committee will consider all submitted longitudinal school-level and student-level data if applicable and relevant.
7. Non substantive events: The Committee will not evaluate appeals based on conditions including, but not limited to:
a. Opposition to accountability formulae (e.g. Growth should not be weighted as such; non-FAY students who pass AzMERIT should be counted, etc.). b. Demographic make-up of student population (e.g. School has an above average percentage of ELL students). c. Data within the control of the school/LEA at any point in time (e.g. Test records not corrected via Common Logon, ADE, or Pearson). d. Individual student characteristics (e.g. This student was often tardy or absent from his Math and Reading classes). e. Statistical computations (sic)
8. Incomplete applications: Incomplete applications will not be reviewed and will be denied without further review.
9. Public Records: All appeals submitted may be subject to public records requests.
10. Rubric: The same rubric will be used to evaluate all appeals.
11. The Committee will make recommendations to the Board based on its decisions.