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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' more than 1,000 public schools will soon be graded with the same A-through-F rating system that teachers use for students.
The grading system, required by changes in state law in 2013, is in the final stages of development. If approved by the state Board of Education later this year, letter grades will replace an older, little-noticed practice of rating schools on a 1-to-5 scale. The law has no penalties directly tied to the low grades.
The system aims to provide accountability in an easy-to-understand format for parents and the general public, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Saturday (http://bit.ly/1pUC1k4 ). The proposed system will be the topic of a Sept. 8 public hearing at the state Education Department's headquarters.
An analysis by the Denver-based Education Commission of the States says Arkansas will join at least 14 other states in using letter grades, including Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.
The Arkansas plan takes into account school results on state-required student tests, any year-to-year gains on the state tests, the size of achievement gaps among student groups and, if applicable, a school's graduation rate. It also includes any gaps in graduation rates among student groups.
By law, the grading system would be applied to each school's results on the state-mandated Benchmark and End-of-Course exams in math and literacy given in the spring. The school-by-school grades would be released later this year.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville's Office of Innovation for Education developed the grading system for the state Department of Education.
Denise Airola, the Office of Innovation director, said the recommended proposal was one of nearly two dozen grading scale models considered over the course of a year. The work was done in consultation with state Department of Education staff, as well as leaders of superintendent and teacher organizations, representatives of philanthropic organizations and education statisticians.
"It is a very stakeholder-driven process," Airola said.
Richard Abernathy, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, said earlier this week he had mixed feelings about rating schools. Letter grades may be easier for the public to understand but still fall short of fully informing parents about what is happening at a school, he said.
"Some schools may have outstanding test scores, but a school with lower scores and high poverty students may be doing a better job," he said, adding that not every facet of a school's operation can be included in a rating. "People try to make rating schools simple, but it's very complex."
He said some states, such as Oklahoma, are rethinking their use of letter grades.
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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, http://www.arkansasonline.com
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