Superintendents say new A-F school grading system 'deeply flawed'
BY ANDREA EGER AND KIM ARCHER World Staff Writers
Thursday, October 04, 2012
10/04/12 at 8:01 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Superintendents representing 107 public school districts -- roughly 20 percent of all public school districts in the state -- laid out their concerns about the state’s new A-F school grading system in a Thursday morning press conference.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education is set to debut the grades for all 1,761 public schools in the state on Monday, but superintendents from across the state say the state's grading method is "deeply flawed."
“School districts are not opposed to accountability or improved communication on school performance,” said Tulsa Superintendent Keith Ballard. “We have demonstrated accountability for student achievement for over a decade under No Child Left Behind.
"We were hopeful that the new A-F Grading System would be an improvement over the previous system. In its current form, however, the new system is highly discriminatory and is aimed at holding schools down. The intent is to embarrass schools, and that is unacceptable.
“By manipulating student growth data and using only the data of students showing positive growth, the State Department of Education has intentionally skewed student growth data. By excluding students who show zero or negative growth, the ‘state average growth rate’ is an inflated number that is not representative of all students’ performance. This faulty interpretation of ‘average’ has resulted in lower grades for each school. This is damaging not only to students and teachers, but also to Oklahoma’s economic future and prospective growth.”
Officials who spoke at the press conference at the Oklahoma State School Boards Association office also included Oklahoma City Superintendent Karl Springer, Cathy Burden from Union, David Goin from Edmond and Joe Siano from Norman.
A commonly expressed concern for school leaders is the fact that schools will not be graded according to the same 4.0 scale that is used for grading students.
For students, 90 percent or better earns an A grade, and a 3.6 grade point average on a 4.0 scale is an A average. But under the state's new grading system, a school needs a 3.75 GPA, or 93.75, to be deemed an "A" school, officials said.
Many school officials have said publicly that they didn't seem to be getting all of the credit they thought they were due for student growth measures and that schools' grades could be unfairly skewed by a small percentage of students in that category.
Other superintendent objections to the new A-F Grading System:
• The system is anything but clear, straightforward and easily communicated. It requires a 10-page technical guide and a 28-page report card guide with 48 different calculation tables to explain the complex manipulation of numbers used to arrive at the ‘simple’ A-F grade attributed to Oklahoma public schools.
• The OSDE has publicly criticized the accuracy of the data provided by school districts. In reality, 94 percent of all weighted data used in the A-F Report Card was supplied by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. The six percent of information supplied by the school districts has minimal or no impact on a school’s letter grade.
• No combination of school supplied data or bonus points can raise a school’s letter grade in the area of Whole School Performance. Performance indicators such as Advanced Coursework Participation, Advanced Coursework Performance, College Entrance Exam Participation and College Entrance Exam Performance – which are strong indicators of student success – are weighted at a level that makes them irrelevant to the performance of the school.
“We are strong supporters of holding schools accountable for student instruction; however, this new system devised by the OSDE in its current configuration will get a failing grade in my community for achieving its purported goal: a higher degree of clarity for parents and the general public about local schools' performance," said Dr. Joe Siano, Superintendent of Norman Public Schools. "We have worked with the OSDE in good faith and with a spirit of cooperation, and we will continue to do so. Yet we also have a duty to speak out and inform parents and the public about serious flaws with these grades."
State Department of Education Spokesman Damon Gardenhire said in a statement released later that school districts should have “embrace the transparency and accountability” in the reform and described Thursday’s press conference at “political posturing.” The reports cards are fair, he noted, and are scheduled to be released statewide on Monday.
“Parents have a right to know this information,” Gardenhire said. “District representatives from across the state had a role in crafting the information that would be included in the report cards, including the calculations used to determine final grades. The State Department of Education has exhaustively communicated with districts on the details of these report cards for more than six months, providing technical assistance, training, personal consultation and a series of guides that are publicly available to all Oklahoma citizens.
“To hold a press conference a few days before the report cards are set to be released is nothing more than political posturing meant to derail implementation of a law that was passed in 2011."
Union Superintendent Cathy Burden said the hastily formed coalition of superintendents is hoping for some recourse from the state Board of Education or Legislature because they have "no confidence" in the calculation of school grades by State Superintendent Janet Barresi and her administration.
The state Board is expected to certify the report cards before Barresi releases them to the public at a press event scheduled for Monday afternoon.
"The Legislative mandate to grade schools should not be a problem but must incorporate transparency, fairness, and objectivity to have legitimacy. Superintendents from rural, urban and suburban schools express no confidence in the current methodologies utilized," Burden said. "Hopefully, the state Board of Education will listen and delay the process of revealing the grades until we can work together."
The school leaders said they felt compelled to stand together to reject claims that they are simply disgruntled or even opposed to accountability and progress because they represent schools and communities both large and small, rural and urban, affluent and poor.
"Somehow, we have lost the guiding principle that the Legislature had when they passed A-F," said Oklahoma City Superintendent Karl Springer. "Quality instruction was totally left out of the calculation (of grades). We want to talk about solutions and work with the state Board of Education to provide input."
Burden said she has seen Union Public Schools' grades and found that they were largely determined by their number of children who qualify for free or reduced-rate lunch.
"It mirrors the socio-economics of our student population, rather than reflecting the quality of instruction, school climate or parental involvement," Burden said.
Siano said school administrators have tried unsuccessfully for months to communicate their concerns about the methods the state Department of Education is using to implement a report card system they have all supported since its introduction as legislation.
Now, they need state officials "to acknowledge that there are legitimate questions about the process" and consider delaying the release of the report cards until those concerns can be thoroughly addressed.
The 107 school districts represented at the press conference were:
Adair Public Schools
Alva Public Schools
Asher Public Schools
Barnsdall Public Schools
Bartlesville Public Schools
Bennington Public Schools
Bethel Public Schools
Beggs Public Schools
Bixby Public Schools
Blackwell Public Schools
Blanchard Public Schools
Bristow Public Schools
Broken Arrow Public Schools
Buffalo Valley Public Schools
Burlington Public Schools
Caney Valley Public Schools
Cashion Public Schools
Catoosa Public Schools
Central Public Schools
Chandler Public Schools
Chisholm Public Schools
Claremore Public Schools
Clayton Public Schools
Clinton Public Schools
Coalgate Public Schools
Colbert Public Schools
Coweta Public Schools
Cushing Public Schools
Dale Public Schools
Davis Public Schools
Depew Public Schools
Dickson Public Schools
Dover Public Schools
Durant Public Schools
Edmond Public Schools
Edmond-Deer Creek Public Schools
Enid Public Schools
Fairland Public Schools
Foyil Public Schools
Ft. Gibson Public Schools
Glenpool Public Schools
Guthrie Public Schools
Hilldale Public Schools
Hobart Public Schools
Holdenville Public Schools
Hugo Public Schools
Hulbert Public Schools
Jay Public Schools
Jenks Public Schools
Keyes Public Schools
Kremlin Public Schools
Latta Public Schools
Lawton Public Schools
Le Flore Public Schools
Liberty Public Schools
Mannford Public Schools
Madill Public Schools
McLoud Public Schools
Medford Public Schools
Miami Public Schools
Midwest-Del City Public Schools
Moore Public Schools
Morrison Public Schools
Mounds Public Schools
Muskogee Public Schools
Norman Public Schools
Nowata Public Schools
Oilton Public Schools
Okarche Public Schools
Oklahoma City Public Schools
Oologah-Talala Public Schools
Owasso Public Schools
Panola Public Schools
Pawhuska Public Schools
Peavine Public Schools
Ponca City Public Schools
Pond Creek Public Schools
Prague Public Schools
Pryor Public Schools
Putnam City Public Schools
Rock Creek Public Schools
Sallisaw Public Schools
Sand Springs Public Schools
Sapulpa Public Schools
Shawnee Public Schools
Shidler Public Schools
Sperry Public Schools
Stigler Public Schools
Stillwater Public Schools
Stilwell Public Schools
Tecumseh Public Schools
Tonkawa Public Schools
Tulsa Public Schools
Tupelo Public Schools
Turpin Public Schools
Union Public Schools
Vinita Public Schools
Waukomis Public Schools
Welch Public Schools
Weleetka Public Schools
Westville Public Schools
Whitefield Public Schools
Woodall Public Schools
Wyandotte Public Schools
Wynnewood Public Schools
Wynona Public Schools
Yukon Public Schools
Associated Images:
Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Keith Ballard speaks at a press conference criticizing the A-F grading system at the Oklahoma State School Board Association in Oklahoma City on Thursday. GARETT FISBECK for the Tulsa World
|
