New grading system draws criticism

By Randy Grider 
and Ben Woods

Many superintendents across the state expressed concern and outrage over the release of preliminary scores of schools and school districts that utilizes the new Texas letter grading system. 
The A-F grading system is set to take effect August 2018.
The released scores shows what letter grades schools would have received for the 2015-16 school year if the rating system had been in place.
Cass County superintendents were in agreement that the timing of the release  of an unfinished grading system had more to do with politics than serving the interested schools, students, parents or the general public. 
Atlanta Superintendent Sidney Harrist said there is a movement within the Texas Legislature to push school vouchers. He has spoken with Rep. Chris Paddie and has reached out to Sen. Bryan Hughes.
“There is a reason why they put this out last Friday,” Harrist said. “The legislature starts Tuesday and there is a goal to push school vouchers.”
Linden-Kildare Superintendent Trevor Rogers concurred, and he too, questioned why release a grading system that is incomplete.
I am in favor of school accountability,” Linden-Kildare CISD Superintendent Trevor Rogers said.  “However the A-F system as it was released is incomplete and was released solely for political purposes.  Speaker of the House Dan Patrick has been adamant in his pursuit of Texas having a voucher system.  He has led the push to release the ratings at this time so that he could use the results during the legislative session that is coming up as a means for trying to pass the voucher system. “
The preliminary release of letter grades are scored in four categories or domains: how well students performed on state tests; how much progress students made from year to year on those tests, how well schools are closing the gaps between poor children and their peers; and students’ college or career readiness. 
Next year, a fifth category allows schools and the community to grade themselves on student and community engagement. Schools and districts will also receive an overall grade.
The superintendents pointed out that letter grades don’t necessarily reflect the public’s mindset of what the score means. For example, for elementary schools, postsecondary readiness scores (based solely on absences) are tabulated with letter grades A-D falling between 91 and 99, or in other words a 99 score is an A and 91 score is a D.
Bloomburg Elementary School received an F in Domain 4, which utilized absences in the scoring. 
“One thing that is so upsetting with the grading system using absences in the formula for elementary  school  in Domain 4 is that at the last legislative session, they killed all of our truancy through the juvenile court system,” said Bloomburg ISD Superintendent Brian Stroman. This has left school systems with few means to combat truancy problems. “Our only avenue is for the district to send letters home and eventually after a long process you can carry them to the district attorney’s office. But it’s a long process.”
Several schools within Cass County received marks that many  might perceive to be failing grades, including Atlanta High School which received all Ds. Others received a mix of grades with some A’s and B’s and several Cs, Ds, and Fs. All of these schools have regularly received “met standards”  year after year and some have even received commendations from the state.
“It’s demoralizing for the teachers, who work so hard.” Harrist said. “All of the schools in Cass County are good schools. This grading system is flawed.”
Harrist said affluent schools fared better than economically challenged schools across the state. For example, 62 percent of schools with less than a 40 percent poverty rate received A’s, B’s and C’s with just 5 percent receiving F’s. Seventy percent of schools with more than a 40 percent poverty rate received C’s, D’s and F’s, while just 10 percent receiving A’s.
“I don’t want the public to think we’re upset that it was released. We are upset that this system was released before it was finished. I don’t want to ever hide anything from the public,” Harrist said. “If there is a bad grade, there is a bad grade, but we want it to be fair. This shows that it’s not fair.”
All the superintendents we polled said they planned to ask their respective board of trustees to pass a resolution asking the state to repeal the new grading system. 
Until the system is fixed, repealed or replaced, Harrist said his district is moving forward.
“We are telling our teachers to keep doing what they are doing and take care of the child every day,” Harrist said. “The new accountability system is a work in progress and we’ve been handed others accountability systems in the past.  We just have to keep doing what we are good at.”
Rogers echoed similar sentiments.
  “Our goal is to prepare students for life after school,” Rogers said. “This means that we want to do all that we can to provide great academics for our students but we also want to give them skills that will help them in the workplace and in college.  
   “We want to teach them ideals like dependability, self-discipline and self motivation, how to be an effective team member, and how to be contributing members of society.  These values go much deeper than a test score.”