Arizonaβs new school ratings system will put more emphasis on studentsβ academic growth and rely less on state test scores.
The Arizona State Board of Education approved the new school report card formula, which grades schoolsβ performance on an A through F scale, at a board meeting Monday in Phoenix.
βI was hoping that we would come up with a system that gave any school in Arizona the opportunity to receive a higher level rating,β said Calvin Baker, superintendent of the Vail School District who also serves a member of the state board and the A-F report card committee.
Baker said he believes the new system will do that.
It provides more ways for a school to gain points aside from having students who score high on standardized tests, helping bridge the gap between schools in higher-income areas, which tend to already have high-performing students, and lower-income ones.
βOne of the most significant problems facing the state of Arizona is figuring out a way to get a higher level of academic success and a higher level of post-high school success for students who live in poor neighborhoods,β Baker said. The state should recognize and provide incentives to schools that are making progress despite that challenge, he added.
For example, at the K-8 level, Baker said schools can earn points for closing the achievement gap between students from higher-income and lower-income families. They can also gain points for reducing chronic absenteeism.
High schools can earn points for college and career readiness, he said. Examples of that include students taking college entrance exams, advanced courses or earning certificates through career and technical education programs.
Public input favored putting more emphasis on student progress, rather than proficiency, which relies solely on test scores, in the new formula, Baker said.
Some Sunnyside and Tucson unified school districtsβ teachers told the Star last year as the state board committee worked to put together proposals for the new ratings system that proficiency did not accurately represent a school.
βEverything about the school has to be taken into account,β Christy Sainz, an honors English teacher at Tucson High Magnet School, said last November.
Beyond how students score on tests, factors such as school climate and high-quality teachers should be considered.
TUSD Interim Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo said he and his staff had not had the chance to thoroughly review the new rating system and its potential impact on the district. He declined to comment until he had a better understanding.
The new system will be used to rate Arizona schools this year with grades available on azreportcards.org as early as next fall. Whatβs reflected on the site until then are old grades from 2014.
The state Education Department stopped using the old method back then to come up with higher standards and new assessments. A committee of educators and parents was formed last year to work on devising a new system that would more accurately measure how schools in Arizona are doing.
