This opinion piece was originally published in the Arizona Daily Independent
By: State Senators TJ Shope and Shawnna Bolick
When children come home with a report card with an A or B, you understand that they have mastered all or most of what was expected. If they bring home a C, you know there’s room for improvement. And if they come with a D or F, you know there’s still a great deal of work to do be done to get them where they need to be.
The same is true for grading schools on an A-F accountability scale: the public can understand that A and B schools are doing well, C schools have room for improvement and D and F schools need more support– they have multiple areas that require supports and intervention.
Every year for nearly a decade, Arizona education officials have released an achievement profile for each public school in the state using an A-F grading scale.
The system doesn’t just help schools know where they need to improve; it provides much-needed transparency for parents who are making decisions about where to send their children.
Unfortunately, Arizona currently is facing the temptation to eliminate A-F school accountability because a handful of lawmakers believe the current system doesn’t accurately reflect the quality of our public schools.
It’s true that almost three-fourths of Arizona schools are earning an A or B grade, and that merits a serious conversation about what those letter grades mean and whether we are holding schools to high enough expectations.
It does not mean we should throw out the entire accountability system, leaving parents and stakeholders in the dark about how schools in their communities are doing. The solution isn’t getting rid of measurement; it’s raising the bar for our schools.
