INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana's Board of Education is considering a proposal that could change the way the state ranks schools by giving them letter grades instead of putting them into categories.
Since 2006, Indiana has classified schools into one of five categories using a formula based on statewide test scores and student improvement. The categories are exemplary progress, commendable progress, academic progress, academic watch or academic probation.
Some say changing them to letter grades — such as A, B, C, D or F — would allow people to more clearly understand the rankings and where their local schools fall within them.
"I would love to have a statewide system of accountability that means something and that people understand," said Tony Bennett, Indiana's superintendent of public instruction.
State Board Administrator Jeff Zaring said Florida has seen student improvement since it moved to a system of letter grades for schools in 1999.
"Florida schools met the challenge of increased standards and letter grades," Zaring wrote in a Department of Education memo to the board. "There is no reason to believe Indiana schools will not do the same."
But some are worried that letter grades could demoralize students and staff members.
Because of the way the ranking formula works, schools with increasing student performance could receive an A for several years and then drop to an F if they taper off even a little, said Stephen Gabet, a board member from Fort Wayne.
"That's a slap in the face," he said.
In 2001, the board balked at using category labels such as "marginal" and "unsatisfactory." Then-Superintendent Suellen Reed said at the time that the final category names were a compromise that avoided more derogatory terms, including letter grades for schools.
The state board voted Wednesday to begin a formal rule-making process that could end with the change to letter grades, but public hearings will be held before a decision is made on the proposal.
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