GUEST OPINION: More than a score

In the 2012 regular legislative session, the Alabama legislature passed Act No. 2012-402, also known as the A-F school report card.  After years of hard work from a group of leading educators in Alabama a formula was presented, reluctantly, on how the state legislature would grade each Alabama school.  Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the leading law maker behind this Act dismissed the recommendations presented by some of this state’s primary educators. Subsequently, it has been reported that a formula will be used to place schools on a bell curve which will always have no more than 6% at the lower end and no more than 6% at the top end.  The top 6% will receive a grade of an A and the bottom 6% will receive a grade of a F.  29.3% of the remaining schools will receive a B, 29.3% will receive a C, and 29.3% will receive a D.  Fortunately, this is not how we grade our student’s classwork and assessments.

This translates to most schools in Alabama (58.6%) receiving a C or D because of where they fall on the bell curve.  Again, we are fortunate that teachers do not grade students using this same approach.  Many states have attempted this A-F method to grade schools and yielded no positive results, but only stigmatized schools and the hard work of teachers with a failing grade.  States like Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, and Louisiana are all recovering from the belittling of public schools because of an A-F report card.  It appears that the lawmakers in Alabama could learn from their peers, or perhaps do they want to stigmatize public schools in the Yellowhammer state?

In Alabama we use the ACT suite of assessments as our summative (end of the year) measure to determine how well schools, grade-levels, teachers, and even students performed.  Some would argue that ACT types of assessments are not to be used for this purpose.  After all, ACT was designed to measure college readiness as their website states, “It’s a fact that more than 1.8 million graduates have taken the ACT® each year—making us the leading US college admissions testing company.”

So why are we using the results of assessments from the leading US college admissions testing company to comprise the majority of a report card grade for schools in Alabama?  The question is rhetorical, but it does make you think. With the right assessments and metrics, some of the qualities of a school or school system such as student achievement, learning gains, graduation rates, and attendance rates can be measured.  Consequently, many factors will not and cannot be measured when determining the effectiveness of a school using the A-F report card as required by Act No. 2012-402.  These immeasurable factors include impact from poverty, funding inequities, environmental barriers to learning, the multiple roles a teacher plays in their students’ lives (i.e., parent, nurse, social worker, counselor, mentor, and advocate), and the many hours dedicated to their profession which go far beyond the 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. work day.  There are many transparent and fair ways of recognizing accomplishments of schools, but rank ordering students will only be stigmatizing.

When these report cards are released, no matter where your child’s school falls on the bell curve, remember when it comes to good schools, it’s more than a score.

Kyle Kallhoff, Superintendent

Demopolis City School System