Gov. Rick Snyder will consider whether to add another performance rating system for Michigan schools. A bill with an A through F grading system is a final procedural action away from Snyder’s desk.
Schools would not receive an overall grade. Instead, they would be graded in different areas like student growth in math and graduation rates.
State Representative Tim Kelly (R-Saginaw) is a bill sponsor. He’s been working on this for six years.
Schools would not receive an overall grade. Instead, they'd be graded in different areas like student growth in math and graduation rates.
"I think it’ll help not only parents, but it’ll also help schools" he says, "help identify their weaknesses and try and focus on trying to bring those areas of weaknesses up."
Opponents say the bill doesn’t help anyone. Instead, they say it would now be the third method of evaluating schools in three years. They say you don’t get a quality accountability system when schools keep having to meet moving targets.
Jennifer Smith is with the Michigan Association of School Boards. Smith says the organization was neutral on the bill in the spring – but now they’re opposed. She says that’s in part because lawmakers passed the bill without working with stakeholders.
"So there’s a lot of questions about how this will actually work," she says. "And again, if we had time to sit down and talk about it, we could probably come up something that we could all live with."
Opponents also say you don’t get a quality accountability system when schools keep having to meet moving targets.
