Legislature moves to change A-F grading system
After public outcry from school districts across the state, both houses of the Texas Legislature have proposed changes to the state's new accountability rating system, but some local educators say the suggested tweaks don't go far enough.
The system grades schools on different categories from A through F, and assigns an overall letter grade to each district.
Critics of the system, which is scheduled to formally take effect next year, say it penalizes school districts with more low-income students, English language learners and special education students. In the preliminary ratings, released in January, schools with higher poverty rates performed worse, though not all categories for the final ratings were included.
Proponents argue that schools should be graded just like students, and claim the system makes it easier to understand schools' performances than the current "met standard/improvement required" ratings.
Read more: http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Legislature-moves-to-change-A-F-grading-system-11175709.php
