Warsaw School Board Hears about Grades for Schools
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Chief Accountability Officer Tom Kline thinks the new Indiana Public Law 221 A-F School Accountability Grading System may be a positive change for Warsaw Community Schools.
Monday night during the monthly school board meeting, Kline gave a presentation on the changes.
Kline said the state legislature was discussing the new system Monday. Last fall, under the “old” grading system, schools received letter grades for the first time, and Warsaw received a “C”. Thirty-five schools spoke up against the new system down at the state.
There is a grading system for grades 3-8, and a system for grades 9-12.
For grades 3-8, the new A-F grading model only counts students with 162 days of attendance. The total percent of students passing ISTEP+, IMAST and ISTAR will receive a number of points. IMAST is a modified test given to students with learning disabilities, and ISTAR is an assessment for students with severe disabilities.
Schools will receive a separate grade for both English/language arts and mathematics. Additional points will be given for the growth of the lower 25 percent and the upper 75 percent. What’s new in that, Kline said, is that it just doesn’t measure results but also growth now. Penalties will be given for low overall growth.
Schools that have 90 to 100 percent passing scores receive 4 points, while schools that have less than 60 percent passing receive no points. Kline said Warsaw’s grades 3-8 English/language arts and math passing scores are around 70 to 74.9 percent, so Warsaw should receive about 2 points.
For the lower 25 percent possible growth reward, English/language arts scores can be raised by 1 point if 42.5 percent of students achieve high growth. Growth is based on a percentile. Math scores can be raised by 1 point if 44.9 percent of students achieve high growth.
“It shows students have scored higher in the past in math than English/language arts,” Kline said.
For the upper 75 percent possible growth reward, English/language arts scores can be raised by 1 point if 36.2 percent of students achieve high growth. Math scores can be raised by 1 point if 39.2 percent of students achieve high growth.
“There’s also penalties,” Kline said. “Penalty is for overall, everybody.”
Under the overall possible growth penalty, English/language arts scores can be lowered by 1 point if 36.2 percent of students achieve low growth. Math scores can be lowered by 1 point if 39.2 percent of students achieve low growth.
There’s a penalty for participation, too, Kline said. Ninety-five percent of students in math and English/language arts have to be tested.
English/language arts can be lowered by 1 point if less than 95 percent of the students complete the English/language arts ISTEP+ assessment. Math scores can be lowered by 1 point if less than 95 percent of the students complete the ISTEP + mathematics assessment.
The points averaged together with all the rewards and penalties will get a school its letter grade. For an “A”, a school has to earn 3.51 to 4 points; 3 to 3.5 points for a “B”; 2 to 2.99 points for a “C”; 1 to 1.99 points for a “D”; and 0 to 0.99 points for an “F”.
Kline said the new elementary and middle school PL 221 model is based on performance and growth; removes subgroups based on race, gender, special needs, language barriers, free and reduced lunches; and helps schools and special needs students by including ISTAR as a passing grade.
For the high school new grading period, Kline said it’s a little more complicated. It includes four categories – English 10 End of Course Assessment, 30 percent; Algebra I ECA, 30 percent; graduation rate, 30 percent; and college and career readiness, 10 percent.
After reviewing all the rewards and penalties for the high school new grading system, Kline said it also does away with all the subgroups. It adds opportunities to earn points based on passing the ECAs on multiple opportunities. It rewards graduating in five years, encourages college readiness and encourages career readiness.
“I think this new system will help Warsaw Community Schools,” Kline said. “I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.”
