Making School “Grades” More Accurate

From the Marshall Memo #432

In this Education Gadfly article, Michael Petrilli suggests a way to improve the credibility of school accountability scores. In the business world, he says, experts look at more than just a company’s profit and loss statement. “They send analysts to go visit with the team, hear about their strategy, kick the tires, talk to insiders, find out what’s really going on. Their assessment starts with the numbers, but it doesn’t end there. So it should be with school accountability systems.”

Here’s Petrilli’s suggestion. Start with a thorough analysis of accountability data for each school, culminating in a letter grade that’s easy for educators, parents, and taxpayers to understand. Then, once a year, send in a British-style inspection team (probably composed of retired teachers and principals) to look for two things:

• Evidence that the school is achieving important outcomes that may not be captured by the state accountability system – for example, adaptive computer assessment results that show progress by previously low-achieving students, or college matriculation and graduation rates that put mediocre test scores in a different light.

• Evidence that the school is fostering valuable attributes in its students. “This is to guard against the ‘testing factory’ phenomenon,” says Petrilli. “Is the school offering a well-balanced curriculum (and extra-curriculars), or engaging in test-prep for weeks on end? Is it focused on teaching ‘non-cognitive’ skills and attributes, such as leadership, perseverance, and teamwork? Character traits like empathy, honesty, and courage?”

The inspection team’s findings could be used to raise the school’s score (if there was evidence of strong outcomes not captured by the state accountability system) or lower it (if the team found unhealthy curricular narrowing or other problems).

This process would be expensive, but Petrilli thinks it’s worth it. “To the extent that school grades (and consequences linked to them) drive policy and behavior,” he concludes, “we ought to make sure that those grades are informed by more than just numbers. The correct response to the unintended consequences of accountability isn’t to end accountability, but to make it work better. That would have positive consequences for many years to come.” 

“We Don’t Judge Teachers By Numbers Alone; the Same Should Go for Schools” by Michael Petrilli in The Education Gadfly, Apr. 12, 2012, http://bit.ly/HWLDEw