The Michigan House passed a bill that will soon pass the Michigan Senate and be sent to Governor Rick Snyder for his signature. It is almost assured that he will sign this legislation.
Among other things it will require
each school to receive a letter grade of A-F not later than September 2019 in
the following areas:
- Proficiency on state assessments in math and English Language Arts
- Student growth on state assessments in math and English Language Arts
- Growth of English Language Learners
- Graduation rate of high school students
- The academic performance of students on state assessments compared to student performance in schools serving a similar population
The legislation also requires that beginning in September
2019 each school shall receive a ranking of
significantly above average, above average, average, below average, or
significantly below average in each of these categories:
- Rate of pupils who are chronically absent
- Participation rate on state assessments
- Pupil subgroup performance (typically these are racial/ethnic categories but also include special education and English Language Learners) on state assessments compared to statewide performance
This advocates for letter grading and these rankings suggest
that this will make schools more accountable and will lead to improved
performance.
This is a lie.
I was clear with our state legislators that I was opposed to this legislation for
several reasons. First, it was not needed. The Michigan School Data website already provides parents with a dashboard of information. This dashboard
provides relevant information on every school in Michigan in easy to understand
charts and graphs.
No letter grades are provided on the Michigan School Data website because they are not
needed. The information is clear. Letter grades would not add any appreciable
information or clarity that is not already available.
Second, letter grades and rankings cannot summarize a
school’s character and performance. Even dashboards do not reveal the culture,
climate, individuality, or resources of a school. Letter grades certainly do
not do provide that information.
The letter grade bill does not provide a parent or community
member with any of the following information:
- Class sizes
- Available Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes
- Available advanced classes at all levels
- Available extra-curricular activities
- Available curriculum in science, social studies, art, music, physical education, library/media
- Instructional support available in math and reading
- Dedicated space for art, music, library
- Teacher turnover rates
- Availability of extra experiences in science, technology, engineering, and math
- Available technology in the schools
There are many other factors that this letter grade bill
does not provide information on that are relevant and important to parents as
they consider whether a school is a school to which they would want to send
their children. But this bill ignores those factors because it is a bad bill.
But now it is law. And schools will suffer. The law does
nothing to improve schools. In fact it will lead schools to focus on these
factors at the exclusion of providing students with other experiences that are
meaningful and important.
- Why promote science when the school will not receive a grade in that subject?
- Why promote social studies when the school will not receive a grade in that subject?
- Why have Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or a rich and deep curriculum then the school will not be graded or rated in those areas?
- Why promote the arts when schools will not receive a grade in that subject?
- Why create Maker Space classrooms and provide those experiences when schools will not receive a grade in those experiences?
- Why provide a dedicated media specialist and a dedicated media center when schools will not receive a grade for that?
The legislation requires "similar schools" to be compared and graded against one another. Some may argue that is fair. But the circumstances and context of an individual school are not taken into consideration. Only the performance in reading and math will be considered. What will result is a school that pays attention to student mental health or provides great after school activities or provides reading and math support will be graded low in their "similar school" ranking even though they score higher in reading and math than the majority of schools in the state.
This bill will not improve schools. It has the real possibility to make things worse as schools, in an effort to improve a grade, narrow curriculum and reduce opportunities for students.
Chasing a grade has never proved to be a good strategy to learn deeply.
This letter grade legislation will not improve schools in
Michigan. In fact, it will make things worse.
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