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Alabama Board of Education Approves School Data System

In its first incarnation, the system would provide data on schools and districts, but not an overall grade for each school.

(TNS) -- The Alabama State Board of Education Thursday approved a revised school assessment system that – in its first incarnation – would provide data on schools and districts but not an overall grade.

The board passed the measure unanimously, a month after delaying consideration of the school report card proposal over skepticism about its overall effectiveness. Board members Thursday still expressed concerns over the law – passed by the Legislature in 2012 – and said they hoped to see changes to it next year.

The law was passed with the belief that grading schools like students would inform parents and allow incentives for performance. Other states have school report cards in place, but those systems draw criticism in part because they may not reflect growth in student achievement in low-performing schools.

“All the evidence there is shows the A-F report card is not working across the country and in fact has negative impact in some areas, and some people are pulling away from the A-F report card,” said Stephanie Bell, a Republican board members whose district includes all of Elmore County and portions of Autauga and Montgomery counties.

Under the resolution passed by the board, the Alabama State Department of Education will in December release data on student achievement and local indicators – a range of markers targeting everything from academics to school culture to counseling – in all state schools. The department will also release data on learning gains in elementary and middle schools, and data on graduation rates in high schools.

In December 2017, the department will release information on attendance and reviews of the school’s work on Alabama Plan 2020, which aims to get students ready for college or the workforce upon graduation from high school. Elementary and middle schools will also see a data release on achievement gaps, and high schools will get information on college and career readiness.

School districts will provide the data to the Alabama State Department of Education, which will verify it is correct. Alabama state schools superintendent Michael Sentance said Thursday said the data appeared to be “quite messy.”

“They need to clean it up to make sure that the data is correct and that we’re getting out the right information about schools and districts,” he said.

The data will go on a website developed by the State Department of Education. Sentance said he expected a public release before Christmas.

Grades would be assigned to the schools starting in 2017, but board members indicated that they hoped the law would change before that point. Sentance said Thursday he discussed the situation with legislators this week, and that they agreed that “this was the best step forward at this time.” But Sentance also said he was “not a fan” of the school grade proposal.

“Releasing information and providing transparency about the information and proving information in a way that parents can make their own judgments is terribly important,” he said after the board vote Thursday. “I don’t think that putting a grade on that is terribly useful. There’s no science behind that. It’s all subjective.”

Legislators like Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, have in the past expressed frustration about the board and department’s slowness in implementing the 2012 law. Board members acknowledged that their relationship with Goat Hill was, in the words of board member Mary Scott Hunter, “testy,” but also said they hoped there would be more consultation on education bills in the future.

“I would hope they would trust us enough as educators that they would come to us to get feedback on legislation that affects our system,” said board member Ella Bell, a Democrat whose district includes Montgomery.

©2016 the Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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