Superintendent says state would get 'F' on handling of A-F accountability grades

“Any teacher will tell you, they give kids feedback as quickly as possible,” Schneider said. “So it can positively impact what they learn ... Here we are, the middle of November, and we’re still waiting to finalize teacher evaluations from the 2012-13 school year. People have to see how ridiculous that really is. We’re going to be halfway through the next school year before we’re provided with that data.”

School A-F accountability grades, given by the Indiana State Board of Education, are to be released Friday after a long delay because of issues including former schools Superintendent Tony Bennett and his staff changing grades that resulted in Bennett resigning his position as Florida’s schools chief; and a lawsuit filed by Democratic Schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz against the other 10 members on the State Board of Education for control of the school grading system. A Marion County judge dismissed Ritz’s lawsuit that claimed the group violated Indiana’s open meeting laws when they went around her by asking the General Assembly to take over the calculations last month.

The board agreed last week to issue preliminary school grades by Friday and plans to publicize those grades by the end of the year after an appeals process. School grades are used for things such as teacher evaluations and to determine school funding.

Schneider noted since the Bennett scandal was reported, he has not seen efforts by anyone to inform school officials exactly what was done, why it was done and how it impacted schools. The process is secretive and has “very little transparency,” he said.

Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. Superintendent David Smith said the controversy that has surrounded the school accountability system is unfortunate, but the results are important, and they must have the trust and confidence of the public.

Metropolitan School District of Mount Vernon Superintendent Tom Kopatich isn’t much of a believer in the A-F school grading system. Kopatich understands the importance of evaluations, but he doesn’t get too concerned, either way, when the grades are released because he knows a lot goes into educating youth.

“If you’re telling me an eight-hour ISTEP score tells you if your school is an A-F, I just think there’s more to education than a math score and a language arts score, and that’s basically what the ISTEP is,” he said.

Starting with the 2010-11 school year, the State Board of Education changed school accountability labels to give a more transparent, easy way to recognize school performance by using A-F letter grades. And in 2011-12, the state adopted a new methodology that used student academic growth, graduation rates and college and career readiness.

A bipartisan group will recreate a more transparent formula for configuring school grades; however, Bennett’s model will be used to calculate grades for the 2012-2013 school year and the following school year.

Being a teacher at EVSC’s Vogel School, B.J. Watts understands the frustration in the length of time it has taken to release grades. However, the task of reconfiguring a formula is not easy, according to Watts, Indiana State Board of Education member for the Eighth Congressional District. He said the board is concentrating on deciding what is being done right and adjusting aspects that aren’t working, instead of creating an entirely new formula.

“Anytime there is public trust, (validity) is a concern ... Obviously we want everyone to be comfortable, that’s why we’re recreating a new A-F because we want people to understand we want to do what’s best for students and teachers and communities, and we want you to believe in the system,” Watts said.

Schneider’s focus of concern also includes ISTEP and the interruptions last April that resulted in months of postponed scores. He said there were more than 1,500 students in Warrick County that endured serious complications, but the state only invalidated 15 of those.

Warrick officials will comb through the school grade results, Schneider said, and address issues that may arise, but they will take those with a grain of salt because it is merely one component used to evaluate student achievement and teacher success.

“I just think it’s very unfortunate, all of the things that have happened with A-F over the past year,” he said. “And it kind of says a little bit about what’s going on in Indianapolis, that we are a political football that’s being kicked down the road ... That’s very unfortunate because I believe any time you involve politics in schools, to the point we currently do in Indiana, then we’re hurting kids, we’re hurting the educational process.”

One test could never provide a clear picture of what really goes on in schools, Schneider said, adding that dedicated teachers are concerned.

“It’s bringing their morale down,” he said. “It’s causing them to reconsider, is this all worth it.”

Smith anticipates improvement in school grades to match the ISTEP gains earned by EVSC students and schools.

Kopatich expects his district to receive good, and possibly improved, grades.

And in Warrick County, Schneider is expecting positive results similar to last year’s.

“Whether we like it or not, these are how our schools are judged,” he said. “I would just caution anyone, especially anyone that knows anything about what’s happened this last year, to look at these results and understand there are a lot of things that impacted these results that go well beyond the controls our students and teachers have.”