Should Michigan Schools Be Graded?

The question that is being asked in the Michigan legislature is, should Michigan K-12 schools be graded on an A to F scale.

Mlive is reporting that State Representative Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Township, has announced he will push for the A–F grading scale for K-!2 schools in the Michigan Legislature.

He is quoted in the article stating:

We need to get serious about accountability, and I think that includes an A-F.  I think that parents need some sort of transparency, and I don't think as submitted to the U.S. (Department of Education), Michigan's plan does that

If our children are graded by teachers why shouldn’t the schools be graded?  Not as some sort of punishment but as a way for the clients of those schools, the parents,  to know what the quality of the schools they are sending their children too are.

Michigan’s Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan, developed by the Michigan Department of Education, did originally call for an A–F grade system and included two options for an accountability system that would assign school an A-F grade based upon performance.

Michigan’s State Board of Education, which oversees the Michigan Department of Education, has decided to pursue the development of what they call a transparency dashboard.  Michigan’s Board of Education believes that grading schools on an A-F scale is “overly simplistic” and doesn't provide a full picture of school performance. Then we have the various Education groups which have also opposed an A-F system.

The A-F grading system the Rep. Kelly speaks of would not provide each school an overall A-F grade.   Rep. Kelly believes the system should provide an A-F grade for each quality indicator that schools are judged upon.

Again this should not be looked at as a retribution when a school is not doing well in a certain quality indicator but as a way for the schools to know where they need to improve on and the parents and community knowing that as well.

We are all graded in some way throughout our lives, without some sort of grading we would not know where we need to improve in order to make us a better employee, parent and person.

Should Michigan’s K-12 school’s be graded on an A-F scale for each quality indicator?

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