Friday, February 8, 2013

Virginia Senate votes in favor of A-to-F grading system for public schools


Here’s a simple rule of politics : if it seems like a quick fix, is perceived to be a quick fix and could possibly act as a quick fix, give it a shot. And lo and behold, Virginia’s legislators (mostly Republicans) in the state Senate followed this simple rule on Tuesday when it passed a bill requiring the Virginia Department of Education to evaluate schools on an A-to-F scale.[1]

Democrats in the Virginia Senate derided the A-to-F evaluation scale “as a gimmick” and just as predictably, Republicans in the state Senate argued that it would improve transparency and spur interested parties to get more actively involved in their school’s success.

Echoing my own feelings about the grading scale for public schools, Sen. Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton) said, “No school assesses a student’s overall performance with a single letter grade. They provide parents with detailed progress reports, and there is nothing that is going to make this a good bill.”[2]

So, for instance, if a school receives an “A” on their evaluation report card, how did the school go about achieving an A? If another school receives an “F,” what steps can that school, the county its located in, and the state, take to correct the poor grade?

The bill and its proponents make it sound as if communities and parents of children in failing schools will act differently now than when they were told in different terms that their schools were failing.

While the grading system might be easier for Virginians to comprehend and act upon, it doesn’t reduce important factors that play a role in failing schools, factors like affluence, neighborhood crime, access to diverse resources of learning, and so on.

It’s a platitude but education is an investment. If Virginia is unwilling to appropriately invest in all of its schools, lackluster results will continue to show in the state.


[1] http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/article_0936bec2-6fe1-11e2-bf4c-0019bb30f31a.html
[2] http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/article_0936bec2-6fe1-11e2-bf4c-0019bb30f31a.html

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