Most schools here score ‘C’ or better

State Board of Education releases letter grades based on various data

Nearly 80 percent of Yuma County’s schools meet the state’s “performing” criteria in the newly released A-F Accountability grades, which the state stresses is preliminary.

Of the 56 Yuma County charter and public schools given a letter grade by the Arizona Department of Education, 45 of them scored at a “C” or higher. Some schools, such as James D. Price at Yuma Proving Ground, were not rated due to low student counts. Small schools will be assigned a grade at a later date, as will alternative schools, such as Vista in the Yuma Union High School District.

Nearly half of the schools

graded in Yuma County received a “B” or an “A.”

Superintendents from various Yuma school districts expressed that the letter grades are being carefully considered, and viewed as a “learning experience.”

“We are pleased with our school grades,” said Somerton School District Superintendent Laura Noel. “They indicate our growth over the last few years. We are hopeful to see continuing improvement.”

“We’re going to use this as baseline data,” said District One Superintendent Jamie Sheldahl, as letter grades were last issued in the 2014-2015 school year.

Those grades 2014-2015 grades were based on the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards test. That skills-based test has since been replaced with the AzMerit exam, Arizona’s Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching, which tests standards.

“The state has said these

are preliminary grades, that a series of public comment periods will be held and those could potentially change a school’s letter grade,” Sheldahl said. Early data was released Friday to the Arizona Center for Investigative Journalism, in a spat over whether the grades were public records. The center then distributed the data file statewide, even though Arizona Department of Education communications chief Dan Godzich said the information would be subject to change. The data released Monday updated grades for two schools in Yuma County — Alice Byrne Elementary School and Gila Vista Junior High. Another area school, Harvest Preparatory Academy — Yuma, had both its grades changed to “under review,” meaning it is appealing the grade assigned to it by the state. (Harvest Prep received two letter grades, one for its K-8 program and another for its high school). Other schools’ letter grades are also under review. Those schools are Carpe Diem Collegiate High School (both K-8 and 9-12), and Antelope Union High School. Antelope Union Superintendent Andy Smith declined to comment, due to its appeal.

The new measures have been fraught with contention and controversy, and the State Board of Education has spent months working on a new formula. The “business rules” used in calculating the scores is itself 41 pages in length.

The indicators which make up a school’s score are: proficiency on AzMerit (worth 30 percent of score); growth on AzMerit (worth 50 percent of score); proficiency and growth of English Language Learners (worth 10 percent of score); acceleration/readiness measures (10 percent). (Acceleration/readiness includes reducing chronic absenteeism and increasing outcomes for subgroups.)

After choosing the indicators schools would be graded on (and defining those), the state board then set “cut scores.” The team tasked with that presented several options to the board, but using the traditional 90-80-70-60 format resulted in fewer “A” schools than in the last round of grades. According to one method being considered (with the 90-80-70 scale), fewer than 1 percent of the state’s schools would have earned an “A.”

Crane’s superintendent, Laurie Doering, said that the district was “pleased” to see growth being used as a determination in grades. Growth is measured comparing scores from the 2015-2016 AzMerit results to the 2016-2017 scores.

“We are pleased to see that the assigned letters are using student growth as a major factor for determination. This measure is respectful of where students are when entering our schools,” the district said in a statement.

For the Yuma Union High School District, which received mostly C’s and one D, interim superintendent Gina Thompson, said, “The A-F accountability system is another tool that we can utilize to make sure our campuses are providing the most effective classroom experience for our students.”

Noel acknowledged the difficulty in trying to explain the system.

“The letter grade formulas are very complicated,” she wrote in an email to the Yuma Sun. “The State Department has indicated there may yet be changes even in the analysis of these 1,617 grades (released Monday).”

Sheldahl noted that the state board “did a good job” of trying to get other factors into the scoring formula, but that the score is still mostly a “snapshot of a test on one day.”

Thompson said that YUHSD would remain focused on its Ready Now Yuma initiative, and that the new accountability measure is just that — new.

“The grades, while informative, will not define our district or our schools,” she said in a prepared statement. “As we move forward, our schools will continue building on the plans being currently implemented. Our mission includes continuing to know every single student and ensuring we use the best data available to us.”

The state said on Monday that grades would not be considered “final” for three months; and that new factors have arisen that may affect scores.

“Since the adoption of the A-F School Accountability Plan, the SBE has determined the federal Every Student Succeeds Act requires revisions to the Plan, including the removal of science data from proficiency measures,” the SBE said in a news release. “Also, the College and Career Readiness Indicator must be revised to include all seniors, not just graduating seniors. Most importantly, the 2016-2017 A-F Accountability Plan is a new plan that must include additional time for field validation and data review.”

Sheldahl said that parents should keep in mind that the letter grades do not reflect the quality of a school — they don’t reflect awards or programs such as art, music or enrichment — or relationships.

“At the end of the day, what counts for a lot is that we have teachers who care about their students.”