Editors update: On April 24, 2017, the Arizona State Board of Education voted 7-2 to adopt the Ad Hoc committees recommended models for elementary and high school.
By Eileen Sigmund
How good is my child’s school?
One way parents can find out is through Arizona’s school accountability system, known as the A-F letter grades. On Monday, the Arizona State Board of Education is poised to make a historic decision: updating Arizona’s A-F letter grade system.
After eight months of working to craft a system that evaluates Arizona’s public schools, the State Board’s Ad Hoc committee has recommended an equitable accountability system. The Ad Hoc Committee relied on the work of technical experts; you know, the Ph.D.-type that can run data models and differentiate how the proposed A-F models measure the impact of the school, rather than the zip code of its students.
The Association, most notably our Chief Academic Officer Dr. Ildi Laczko-Kerr, through her role on the Accountability Advisory Group, played an integral role in working with the Ad Hoc Committee to shape an accountability system that should prove to be more equitable than its predecessor.
We, along with other education stakeholders, are asking the State Board to adopt the models recommended by the data gurus and recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee.
It’s now up to the Board on Monday to support the public process for school accountability and accept the Ad Hoc committee’s recommended A-F formulas for elementary and high schools — both public charter and district. Doing so will ensure that parents can make informed decisions about their child’s education as they look to answer that all-important question.
