State superintendents join forces against new A-F school grading system

TULSA - Dozens of Oklahoma's school superintendents are waging a war on the state's new A through F grading system.

Representing more than 300,000 students across the state, superintendents from 81 school districts, including many in Green Country, spoke about their concerns Thursday regarding the state's new A through F grading system for school districts. 

Dozens of superintendents traveled to the state capitol to speak publicly about the new system and offer suggestions on how to improve it.

“School districts are not opposed to accountability or improved communication on school performance,” said Keith Ballard, superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools. “We have demonstrated accountability for student achievement for over a decade under No Child Left Behind.  We were hopeful that the new A-F Grading System would be an improvement over the previous system. In its current form, however, the new system is highly discriminatory and is aimed at holding schools down. The intent is to embarrass schools, and that is unacceptable."

In 2011, the Oklahoma legislature adopted the new A through F system, which State Superintendent Janet Barresi says will provide greater transparency for schools, allowing students and parents to see how their schools are performing.

The system will use school assessment results from the 2011-2012 school year to determine a ranking  based on the school's performance.

Chris Payne, spokesman for Tulsa Public Schools, says concerned school officials have tried working with Barresi's office on improving the grading system, which they say in inaccurate, but so far superintendents have been unsuccessful.

While Barresi says the grading system is simple and "easily communicated to the public," Payne says the new system is very complex.

The grading scale is compressed on one end. For a school to receive an "A" it must score a 93.75, which Payne says is very hard to obtain.

“By manipulating student growth data and using only the data of students showing positive growth, the State Department of Education has intentionally skewed student growth data," said Ballard. "By excluding students who show zero or negative growth, the 'state average growth rate’ is an inflated number that is not representative of all students’ performance. This faulty interpretation of ‘average’ has resulted in lower grades for each school. This is damaging not only to students and teachers, but also to Oklahoma’s economic future and prospective growth.”

Payne says the superintendents are not altogether against the grading system, but they think it needs to be tweaked because it does not provide an accurate representation of a school's performance.

“We are strong supporters of holding schools accountable for student instruction; however, this new system devised by the OSDE in its current configuration will get a failing grade in my community for achieving its purported goal: a higher degree of clarity for parents and the general public about local schools' performance," said Joe Siano, superintendent of Norman Public Schools. "We have worked with the OSDE in good faith and with a spirit of cooperation, and we will continue to do so. Yet we also have a duty to speak out and inform parents and the public about serious flaws with these grades."

Schools supporting proposed changes to the new grading system include Bartlesville, Bixby, Broken Arrow, Catoosa, Claremore, Glenpool, Jenks, Muskogee, Owasso, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Tulsa, Union and others.

The state Department of Education will release the new A through F school report cards to the public Monday.  The new rankings will be available on the department's website.