INDIANAPOLIS | More than 200 people crowded into a conference room Friday to tell the State Board of Education they oppose using letter grades to classify school progress.
State Superintendent Tony Bennett wants to replace the existing descriptive terms applied to school performance and improvement with an "A-to-F" grade, which he says will make it easier for parents and taxpayers to know whether their school is improving.
However, many of the teachers, principals and parents who spoke Friday said giving schools grades is akin to pinning on "a scarlet letter" that could affect students trying to get into college, reduce property values and hurt economic development by inspiring businesses to relocate near schools with better grades.
"I can't fathom a system where we would tell our kids they are failures," said Eric Bowlen, principal of Martinsville East Middle School. "How we judge and assess our kids is morally wrong."
Many of the speakers said the ISTEP standardized test already doesn't accurately capture student achievement. Giving a school a grade based on improvement in those scores would only compound that problem, they said.
Laura Cummings, a student-teacher and mother of three Indianapolis Public School students, said some parents may decide to switch their child's school or take their child out of school based only on its grade.
"Too many parents will look at a school with a grade of C, D or F and won't look deeper," Cummings said.
Indiana schools are already classified by student performance and improvement on the ISTEP test. Schools currently are labeled as achieving "exemplary progress," "commendable progress," "academic progress," "academic watch" or "academic priority."
The proposed rule would replace those descriptive terms with letter grades, including "D" for academic watch and "F" for academic priority. Schools with grades of "D" or "F" would be required to improve student performance or face state sanctions, as they already do under the existing academic watch and academic priority labels.
The Indiana Board of Education is expected to vote on the change Wednesday.