As changes to Ohio’s state report card system continues to be debated, there was a report that came across the wire from a group that writes about Ohio Statehouse news with an educational focus. In order to provide Olmsted Schools constituents the information therein, I wanted to provide portions of that report along with some insights.

Parts of the report are listed below. My comments are in blue whereas their findings are in black.

Here is part of what was reported:

“Parents responding to a new poll on state report cards expressed support for the type of letter grade system used now versus alternatives like star ratings or descriptors.” Note…this is the conclusion they reach based on the information that is provided below (My comment).

“In the poll commissioned by Ohio Excels, a business coalition focused on education and workforce issues, letter grades won plurality support in comparison to other methods, and large majorities of respondents expressed that A-F grades are understandable and appropriate as a way to convey school performance.” Not really sure how they drew the conclusion of “appropriate” because it was never asked based on their report (my comment).

“The poll is based on a survey of 655 parents from Dec. 30 through Jan. 15 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percent. The parent’s survey included an oversampling of African-American and Hispanic parents. Columbus-based research firm Saperstein Associates conducted the poll.”

“Surveyed parents were asked whether the following three options are more or less appropriate as a measure of school or district performance than letter grades: one to five stars; a 0-100 numerical score; descriptive text, such as “below expectations,” “meets expectations” and “above expectations.”  Here is where the bias begins…they presented 3 options as an alternative to letter grades which assumes that letter grades are the best option to begin with…which they are not. (My comment)

“For star ratings, 20 percent said they were more appropriate than letter grades, versus 39 percent who said less appropriate and 41 percent who rated them “about the same.”

“For the numerical score, 41 percent said more appropriate, 23 percent less appropriate and 36 percent about the same.”

“They then were asked which of the four was the “best measure” of performance. Thirty-eight percent said letter grades, followed by 30 percent for a numerical score, 24 percent for descriptive text and 8 percent for star ratings.  Ninety-one percent of respondents either strongly or somewhat agreed that letter grades are “clear and easy to understand” as a measure of performance. Eighty-seven percent strongly or somewhat agreed that letter grades are “appropriate for expressing the overall performance of a school or district.” Not really sure what this paragraph and the previous one indicate other than respondents seemed split between letter grades, a numerical score and a narrative method being the “best measure” of performance, however they report that 91% of respondents say that letter grades are “clear and easy to understand.” Clear and easy because grades are generally given by teachers? Remember that a student’s grade isn’t based on a single test score. If it was, parents would revolt. Student grades are based on a collection of evidence over the course of 45 days of instruction [generally]  with multiple measures to determine A, B, C and so on. If we wouldn’t base a student’s grade on a lone test score why in God’s name would we base an entire district’s grade on a test given at a particular moment in time? Because it’s easy…because that’s how we’ve always done it!?!  (my comments)

“Ohio business leaders understand the importance of maintaining a report card system that clearly, honestly and fairly evaluates schools and school districts, while giving parents and communities insight into how well their schools are helping students learn,” said Lisa Gray, president of Ohio Excels, in a statement. “We know there are changes that need to be made to certain components to make the report cards more transparent and honest depictions of how schools and districts are performing. “Our goal is to ensure that Ohio maintains a system that helps highlight successful schools, encourages underperforming schools to continue to improve and drives increased student performance for all Ohio students. Findings from this poll should help to inform those discussions and help direct resources and supports to the students that need it most.”

Ohio Excels presented testimony in favor of keeping the letter grade system to a legislative study committee on report cards.”

Ohio Excels used their survey to create a report and drew conclusions to keep the A – F system in place. They recommended this to the Ohio Legislature. Here is the story behind the story: 

– 59 percent of respondents said they’d seen an Ohio Department of Education (ODE)-issued school building report card before, while 33 percent had seen a district report card. Only 33% of respondents had actually seen a district report card (my comment)

– 54 percent of respondents said it was very important, and 35 percent somewhat important, to have ODE report cards describe the performance of their children’s public school buildings. Numbers were similar for report cards on school district performance. Not exactly a huge endorsement for Ohio’s Report Card system.  (my comment) 

Respondents did indicate that reporting on reading proficiency was important (95% and it is) and that providing a measure related to how well students are prepared for success after high school graduation.

Here’s my problem with the study and the findings:

Asking the right question(s) is often more important than getting the answer(s). The right question isn’t whether an A – F grading system should be used, or whether or not people find it to be the “most popular” and “easiest to understand.” That’s how we should label food contents, not school districts comprised of children.  Ohio Excels data shows that most people polled: 1) have never seen an Ohio District Report Card and, 2) respondents didn’t think any of the choices were better than the other compared to letter grades. They took that data and reported: “large majorities of respondents expressed that A-F grades are understandable and appropriate as a way to convey school performance.”   First off…that’s not what the data says based on the data they revealed and secondly, this statement is wrong.

The question needs to be bigger in order to consider a different type of response. Here’s my question–“What is the right accountability for the job to report on how school districts are meeting their obligation of educating and growing kids on those things deemed to be important that allow them to be happy and leading productive lives so that they can make a contribution to the 21st Century world and beyond.”  That’s the purpose of school. Call me crazy, but it seems to me that you’d want to get up and move around the state and country to see how others are doing it rather than sitting in the room with the same people who are coming up with the same ideas.

Keep in mind the people that should be part of that conversation (what is the right accountability) extends well beyond members of the Ohio Legislature and businesses in Ohio. Such a system needs to consider all of the users–parents, community members, students, educators, and others. If you’re going to ask Ohio’s parents what they want, do it right and broaden the dang question. Ask them what their hopes and dreams are for their children and I promise you, you aren’t going to hear anything about an A-F system, a 0-100 point scale and a 5-star system. The things they will identify will extend far beyond an SAT or ACT score, or any test that gathers data at a moment in time and then tries to predict the future. 

If you’re interested in these types of questions and discussion, I’d point you to someone that I’ve learned a great deal from recently. Read more from John Tanner about True Accountability here.