HB 22: A to F and Other Accountability Issues….

This one is the major re-write of the accountability system.  The big news is that we are compressing from five domains to three: Student Achievement, School Progress, and Closing the Gap. Other key features:

*The Commissioner will study the feasibility of incorporating an indicator regarding co-curricular and extracurricular activities. Don’t look for any swift movement on this.  The report to the legislature is not due until December 1, 2022.

*If you get a D you will no longer be considered “unacceptable.”  You will be “needs improvement.”  Only F-rated schools will be “unacceptable.

*Ratings of the performance of your campus for this school year (2017-18) will be publicly released in August, 2018, but will be limited to: “improvement required” or “met standard.”

*Whatever method is used to rate performance must permit every district and campus to get an A.  Thus the system cannot be designed such that the lowest 5% automatically get a grade lower than A.

*There are a lot of provisions in this bill about who has to be counted as a dropout.

*Thankfully, the Commissioner will provide all of us with a document in a “simple, accessible format” that explains all this complex stuff in a way that we can all understand, and distribute to parents, the media, the Chamber of Commerce, etc.

*The Commissioner will adopt rules whereby a school district can assign ratings to each

campus, if the district first gets the Commissioner’s approval of the district’s “local accountability plan.”  The ratings must still be A to F.

*The bill contains a new section detailing exactly what happens to a district or campus rated D.

DAWG BONE: LOOKS LIKE A TO F IS HERE TO STAY.

Tomorrow: Seat belts on the bus….