Giving letter grades to schools is a fraud.
In New York City, the Department of Health gives letter grades to restaurants, and almost every restaurant gets an A unless there are unhealthy, unsanitary conditions discovered by inspectors, like mouse droppings in the kitchen.
School letter grades attempt to grade schools largely by test scores, whether performance or growth. The scores largely reflect the affluence or poverty of the students. If you want to understand how stupid it is to judge schools by test scores, read Daniel Koretz’s new book, “The Testing Charade: Pretending to Improve Education.” Give a copy to your superintendent and the school board.
A school is a complex institution with a complex mission, far more complex than a restaurant.
Arizona has decided to recalculate it’s fraudulent school grades.
Could it be because the charter school in Snowflake, Arizona, got an F? That is the Charter beloved by Sylvia Allen, chair of the State Senate Education Committee?
However they are recalculated, they will still be fraudulent.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Shut them down!”
Droppings on the classroom floor
Standard test and Common Core
Reformers darting here and there
Violations everywhere!
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SDP,
You are fast!
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He is! (But no faster than Arizona’s Department of Education’s response to this Ed Reform emergency!)
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You have to be fast with mice.
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Letter grades are fundamentally lies because they can be manipulated. Whether for schools or kids, the reformers love them. I didn’t know whether to give reformers an F or U as schools use those letters as the failing grade. So I settled on FU
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Good one!!
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I live in Arizona and have done after-school programs here for years. Our educational system is a major mess and this is not going to improve it. That’s for sure.
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