Local Schools Fire Back at New A – F Rating System

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article125053264.html#storylink=cpy

The report card-style system was passed during the 2015 legislative session and is to take effect in August of 2018.

 

Although this was just the preliminary report – aimed at giving educators and parents of students an idea of what it will look like – the results are not sitting well with local educators as they seem to reflect old data retrieved from the STAAR tests taken in the 2015-16 school year. 

 

“I think the legislator looked at this and said ‘let’s try to give a simple straight forward, easy to understand simple scale, so let’s give them the same scale we grade students on A – F,’ and that’s good that’s understandable that they pursued that, but again that first glance can be a little deceptive if you look a little underneath the data,” said Richard Baumgartner, founder and director of Rise Academy in Lubbock.  “Some things can be a little inflated, some things can be under measured and some things can just be a little distorted from what the reality might be.” 

 

Other Lubbock-area schools also took the opportunity to respond to the new rating system:

 

Lubbock ISD issued the following statement concerning the new A – F system. 

“The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released a required report of the “A-F” system to the Legislature. We agree with TEA Commissioner Mike Morath that the report is not indicative of the performance of our schools and the ratings should not be considered as predictors of future performance; however, we know labels tend to stick. The “A-F” system creates a false impression about an entire neighborhood of children, their teachers and schools, further undermining the work being done to provide a quality education and promising future for our children.

The “A-F” system has been applied in North Carolina, Oklahoma and Florida.  Most alarming in those states is the lack of relationship between how students of poverty are actually progressing and the grades assigned to their schools.

Lubbock ISD will continue to serve Every Child, Every Day, to help students reach their highest academic potential.”

Berhl Robertson, Jr., Ed.D, Superintendent

Lubbock-Cooper issued the following statement concerning the new A – F system.

Lubbock-Cooper ISD does not consider ratings generated by the “A-F system” to be an accurate or all-encompassing measurement of the success of students and teachers in our district or in any Texas public school. The mission of Lubbock-Cooper ISD is to love students, keep students safe, and teach students well – none of which can be gauged by this incomplete and flawed system.

While the “A-F system” is not yet finalized and measurement components have not yet been explained to public schools (making the release of ratings premature and deficient), what we know so far is that the system does not provide a summary of student achievement or progress throughout the school year. Instead, ratings are calculated based on one test (STAAR or EOC) which is administered on a handful of days and requires that all students achieve the same passing standard, regardless of individual student needs or competency.

The “A-F system” is a step backward in the measurement of student achievement. As a public school, we are charged with providing quality education to ALL students by meeting their very individualized needs and administering the attention and resources each student deserves. Each student is unique. Their backgrounds, abilities, and requirements vary. This system ignores the diversity, socioeconomic status, and potential educational obstacles of Texas students. It does not meet students where they are, but demands that all students fit the mold of what legislators consider the ideal learner. The “A-F system” is inherently unfair, favoring the communities, schools, and students of affluence and only further reducing resources so desperately needed by schools serving diverse populations.

 

Lubbock-Cooper ISD has a long-standing record of not only meeting, but exceeding all goals set by state lawmakers, and we believe the appraisal of our students and teachers is a necessary and critical component of our accountability to the public. We cannot support an inadequate system which provides a convoluted portrayal of success. Texas students and teachers deserve to be appraised by a system that measures their success accurately, wholly, and without bias.”

Frenship ISD issued the following statement concerning the new A – F system.

“The A-F Rating system is still in the development phase so the publicized grades are preliminary. The provisional A-F rating is one of many ratings by which all public school districts are judged that are primarily based on a paper and pencil, standardized test given on one day of an entire school year.

While a well-constructed assessment provides important data, it offers only limited insight regarding a child’s overall academic progress or a teacher’s effectiveness. No test can accurately reflect the complexities of educating a student. The development of the new rating system will continue through 2018 so it is a bit premature to discuss the ratings in depth.

That said, Frenship takes the responsibility of helping every child maximize his or her potential very seriously. We hold ourselves accountable to our local community’s high standards of excellence. 

 

We are committed to providing our students with personally meaningful learning which adapts to our changing world. Our focus will continue to be providing a quality twenty-first century education that will equip our students for the future.”