{"id":576,"date":"2018-12-03T14:37:42","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T14:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=576"},"modified":"2023-08-21T15:51:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-21T15:51:01","slug":"how-reliable-are-the-states-performance-grades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2018\/12\/03\/how-reliable-are-the-states-performance-grades\/","title":{"rendered":"How reliable are the state\u2019s performance grades?"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Carolina has been rating school performance on an A-through-F scale since 2013-14, when the Republican-led state legislature started the letter-grading system. <\/span><\/p>\n

Schools are assessed on a 100-point scale, with 80 percent of the grade coming from the percent of students who pass exams and the other 20 percent factoring in year-to-year growth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporters of the system say letter grades provide a simple way for parents, educators and community members to assess how various schools are doing. But critics say that the system tends to stigmatize schools in high poverty areas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakewood Elementary Principal James Hopkins said the state standards are a valuable guide for assessing teachers, but the grading formula is \u201cbackwards\u201d because it \u201c<\/span>can undermine efforts made in areas in North Carolina that have historically struggled to achieve proficiency, but have not struggled to meet growth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>I think that the current model, the formula, does not help reflect what schools are doing,\u201d he said. \u201cI understand why the state wants to have grades, but I think the formula is flawed and it gives a very negative perception for schools like Lakewood.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Related story: Lakewood and Mangum: Comparing Durham\u2019s worst and best performing schools<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even as Lakewood received an \u201cF\u201d grade for 2017-18, it met its growth expectation, and Hopkins said a model that gives more weight to a school\u2019s growth status would better reflect the learning happening in more disadvantaged classrooms.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe way that its reflected in the paper is that Lakewood is a failing school,\u201d he said. \u201cTo say that we are an F school I think deflates any additional efforts that we have made in trying to address some of our learning gaps with our students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gwendolyn Dorman, principal of Mangum Elementary School, \u00a0agreed that test scores can be misleading, but said Magnum would score well even if the formula were flipped. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely getting the growth that we need,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

For better or worse, schools have to work with the system they\u2019re handed, she said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of research on whether tests are culturally biased,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd whether they are or aren\u2019t, unfortunately we have to teach (students) for the test.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Carolina has been rating school performance on an A-through-F scale since 2013-14, when the Republican-led state legislature started the letter-grading system. Schools are assessed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[250],"class_list":["post-576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-schools","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nHow reliable are the state\u2019s performance grades? - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2018\/12\/03\/how-reliable-are-the-states-performance-grades\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How reliable are the state\u2019s performance grades? - 9th Street Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"North Carolina has been rating school performance on an A-through-F scale since 2013-14, when the Republican-led state legislature started the letter-grading system. 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