Public School Forum of NC Newsletter 03/27/15

http://www.icontact-archive.com/a60eMRj5UUvihmXYAJwxYZ6kyCTvZPak?w=4

New Bills Would Delay Start of Tougher School Grading Scale

Bills filed Wednesday with the support of influential state lawmakers would delay for two years tougher standards
that could result in most of North Carolinas public schools getting D or F performance grades.
Senate Bill 450 and House Bill 358 would keep in place through the 2015-16 school year the use of a 15-point
scale, where A is 85-100, when evaluating schools performance under the A-F grading system. Schools are now
scheduled to switch to a 10-point scale, in which an A would be 90-100, starting with this years results.
The 15-point scale helped cushion the impact of the new letter grades for schools in the 2013-14 school year,
resulting in more than 70 percent of public schools getting grades of A-C. If the 10-point scale had been used, more
than 70 percent of schools would have received D or F grades.
An F grade in the 15-point scale is a score of less than 40. Under a 10-point scale, an F would represent a score of
less than 60.
Rep. Craig Horn, a Union County Republican, said the new legislation is designed to provide consistency in how
schools are evaluated, not to hide the number of schools with poor grades. Horn is one of several chairs of the
House and Senate education committees who are primary sponsors of the legislation. Lets stay with one scale for
the next couple of years so we have an opportunity to make a reasonable comparison, he said.
Republican lawmakers said the A-F system makes it easier for parents to judge schools. But critics contended that
a single grade is too simplistic and would stigmatize schools.
Schools are largely evaluated on performance on standardized tests, with 80 percent of the letter grade reflecting
passing rates and 20 percent based on how much students learned year over year a measure of student
growth."
The Public School Forum of North Carolina made Making Sense of A-F School Performance Grades one of
its Top Ten Education Issues for 2015.

This proposed legislation to keep the 15 point grading scale in place and not change after just one year of
implementation is certainly the right thing to do, said Keith Poston, President & Executive Director of the Public
School Forum. We would encourage legislative leaders to seriously consider the various proposals to revise the
underlying grading formula which we believe places far too much emphasis on single end of grade test scores and
does not give enough weight to year over year performance improvements.
The Public School Forum is finalizing an analysis that shows that many schools across North Carolina are serving
high-poverty student populations and doing amazing jobs of improving student performance year over year but are
being labeled D or F schools based solely on the current formula's emphasis on one-time end-of-year tests.
Excerpts from:
Hui, T. "NC bills would delay start of tougher school grading scale." News & Observer. 3/25/15.