Our School Rating and Grading System Is a Failure!
Click here to view a new white paper produced by Superintendent Kelli Joseph of the St. Helena Parish public school system. It describes how the present school performance score system and the school and district letter grades derived from it are unfair and unproductive for rating public schools in Louisiana. This Advocate story summarizes the reports' findings. It emphasizes the unfairness of the system in rating small, rural and highly impoverished school districts relative to larger, richer districts. The white paper also suggests basic changes that should improve the school rating system.
My opinion is that while the changes proposed by St. Helena are helpful, the entire premise behind the school rating system which by BESE policy must be based primarily on student test results is inherently flawed. If its purpose was to inform the public about the level of educational services provided to students in schools and school districts, then the rating system fails miserably. The rating system does not tell parents or taxpayers anything about the quality of educational services provided to students, it is simply a reflection of the relative wealth of the school or school system. This is of no use in telling us what and how to improve services to students.
Here is a letter to The Advocate by a school activist in East Baton Rouge Parish that describes the unfairness and ultimate futility of the state school rating system from the point of view of a citizen that simply wants to tackle the real problems affecting our schools.
The following is the most concise and accurate summary I can Louisiana Educator: Our School Rating and Grading System Is a Failure!: