In comparison, superintendents critical of A-F previously endorsed changes that would have given 70 percent of schools an A or B, and slashed the number of D schools by nearly 40 percent. Under their proposal, a school where 60 percent (or more) students weren't proficient in fourth-grade reading, fifth-grade social studies and sixth-grade math would have gotten a C. In other words, they wanted to declare mass failure to be average and acceptable school performance.
While praising Oklahoma's A-F system, Figlio says improvements could be made. He says independent inspectors could conduct top-to-bottom reviews of schools several times annually and issue reports regarding whether school leadership is setting clear expectations for teachers and students, whether there's evidence of across-the-board ambitious instruction, and similar qualitative factors. Figlio said those measurements — which in England are also issued report-card style for individual schools — would be only “a complement, rather than a substitute, for the school grading system.”
So superintendents' concerns about qualitative factors could be addressed — by increasing scrutiny and potentially issuing a second school report card substantially focused on their administrative competence.
Somehow we doubt the administrators would welcome this news.
