Arizona's State Board of Education has revised its method of grading schools by giving extra emphasis to Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) scores. Interestingly, this is supposed to help schools that might have been labeled as "underperforming" by the previous rating system:
"Underperforming" schools can expect visits from the Arizona Department of Education to assess where deficiencies exist and to help establish a plan for improvement. Schools that fail to shed the negative label for three years could possibly be taken over by the State Board of Education.
The labels are part of the state's school accountability initiative, called Arizona Learns, which is the state's answer to the federal No Child Left Behind law.
The MAP scores' stronger role came after officials from schools with low achievement scores complained they were not receiving enough credit for improvement. The old formula was not fair to good schools in poor neighborhoods and neglected schools that brought low-scoring students up to state standards, they said.
To get the full 40 percent toward the label, a school will need to have at least 90 percent of students achieve one-year's growth. Schools with MAP scores of 70 percent or more will get 20 percent of the label credit and schools with 60 percent or more will get 10 percent. Schools with less than 60 percent of students achieving one-year's growth will receive no points in the labeling equation.
Information on the MAP scores can be found here, with information on Arizona's standards here.
Posted by kswygert at October 15, 2003 09:29 AM