State to launch new color-coded school performance system
A new color-coded scale to evaluate school performance will be launched Tuesday by the Michigan Department of Education, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The Michigan School Accountability Scorecards will give each school a color: Green, lime green, yellow, orange or red. Green indicates that most goals were met by the school, while red indicates that the school needs intervention.
The state will launch a new system for measuring school performance this week. Color-coded report cards for each school in every district will be available online.
Schools that receive a red color met less than 50 percent of the points possible.
The new system tailors the points possible to each individual school in every district, giving schools a customized way to measure their performance, the Free Press reported.
Amy Biolchini is the K-12 education reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.
Comments
heisenberg
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 3:18 p.m.
Unbelievable! Nothing better to do in the state than create color codes for ranking schools. How pathetic.
Doug
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 1:08 p.m.
Wow! That will really improve education!
Somargie
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 2:15 a.m.
Uggggg, the money used to create this needless waste, similar to the terror threat rainbow should be used towards funding public schools without hypocritic and outright diversions tactics. We should all cringe at this needless waste and look at it as another example the Repubs are dragging MI to stupidity.
krih
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 2:13 a.m.
The last time I could keep track of this the state was keeping track of percentage of students proficient in the "core" content areas. I looked up my children's school and saw that students were more likely to be proficient in reading than in mathematics. The following year, the state changed the system to account for amount of growth. Again, I looked up my children's school. They had made very little growth in reading (remember they were already doing fairly well), but had made progress in mathematics (lots of room there). With the first set of data, one might think the school should spend some time focusing on mathematics (in addition to their other duties) and with the second set of data, one might think the school should spend time focusing on reading. The final change I was aware of labeled them as a focus school because of the disparity between reading and mathematics scores. (too much of a gap). Does the state realize that every time they change the way data is reported, it sends schools running to keep up? It's likely that the raw data did not change much over those few years, and the schools likely know that, but the state also sends a message that they must chase a different goal all while asking them to keep 3-5 year school improvement plans in place. I was sad when I left my classroom 6 years ago. I still miss the kids. I'm not sure I relish the thought of having to deal with this bureaucratic nightmare.
DennisP
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 1:24 a.m.
I guess they need the color system because almost no one can read...
leaguebus
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 10:20 p.m.
Whats funny is that all anyone has to do is check the average selling price of the homes in a district. Those with low selling prices will have underfunded and poorer schools than the biggies like AA and Birmingham. At least the Rickster and his Merry Band are equal opportunity budget cutters. Cut the foundation grants for the state and all districts start having money troubles. Then start cranking out all the "new" ideas to reinvent education in the state. Nov 4, 2014 is coming fast.
arborarmy
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 5:26 p.m.
"Of course it is. And it accomplishes little or nothing" To be clear, the "it" above refers to replacing teachers. I ought yo have written: Of course it is easier to replace the teachers. And it accomplishes next to nothing. When will the Snooze allow posters to edit their posts?
arborarmy
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 5:23 p.m.
Of course it is. And it accomplishes little or nothing. The problem, more often than not, is the students, their parents, their environments, etc.... that have a far greater impact on student BEHAVIOR (and that is what learning is) than the teacher. A teacher cannot force someone to learn who cannot and/or will not put in the effort. So you're right: blaming and punishing teachers en masse is easy. The root problem will, however, remain.
Basic Bob
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 10:54 a.m.
@arborarmy, It is much more difficult to change the students.
arborarmy
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 2:09 a.m.
"School performance has not changed noticeably in the last 3 years. Of course the teachers haven't changed much in the last thirty." . . . because, as we all know, it is teachers who ultimately are responsible for learning.
A2M3
Tue, Aug 20, 2013 : 12:36 a.m.
Do I hear the "privatize" drum beating???
Basic Bob
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 11:24 p.m.
School performance has not changed noticeably in the last 3 years. Of course the teachers haven't changed much in the last thirty.
Goober
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 9:51 p.m.
How am I going to tell what the new evaluation is? I'm color blind!
a2cents
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 9:45 p.m.
Teapartiers don't do numbers (or letters) well, so let's try...
Amy Biolchini
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 9:20 p.m.
I'm writing a story with the new color designations for Ann Arbor Public Schools, which will be published tomorrow when the data is publicly released by the state. The scorecards will be available for the public to review on the state's website as well. Stay tuned.
Ricardo Queso
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 7:06 p.m.
Now overlay this school reporting system on the recently published color coded neighborhood ethnicity map. Detroit will appear as a giant Christmas themed city.
Linda Peck
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 7:02 p.m.
Is this so everyone in school gets to see how smart you are, or the opposite? How cruel.
Dcam
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 10:05 p.m.
Pupil by pupil is graded school by school by the public, however - and to some extent university entrance committees, accreditation and all that.
Amy Biolchini
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 9:21 p.m.
It's not done pupil by pupil—just school by school.
glimmertwin
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 6:28 p.m.
Here's a revolutionary concept - why not give an "A" for the best, and an "F" for failing? Problem solved - next issue, please.
CLX
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 6:15 p.m.
Schools that fall in the red can and will be taken over by the state. Teachers at those schools will be fired and allowed to "reapply" to their former jobs, and principals get the final decision as to who is hired. The system is pretty transparent -- this is way to drastically cut teacher pay, under the guise of empowering teachers, and it's directed primarily and first-most at Detroit. The state can't renegotiate existing contracts, but they sure found a great way to fire everyone and then rehire them under new, lower paying contracts. It's a horrible situation for any decent teacher who happens to be teaching at a school with the neediest kids. The result will be the neediest kids being taught by the lowest-paid teachers. Which teachers are going to take the lowest paid jobs??
apples
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 10:42 p.m.
It also happened here just in the last few weeks.
Amy Biolchini
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 9:17 p.m.
The state launched part of its new performance measurement system last year to designate schools as Priority, Focus or Reward schools last year based on a top-to-bottom scale. http://www.annarbor.com/news/new-report-cards-target-many-high-achieving-ann-arbor-schools-for-improvement/#.UBrKte2irzg Priority schools are the bottom 5 percent of schools in the state and must demonstrate marked improvement or risk becoming a part of the state's EAA.
Kirk Taylor
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 8:56 p.m.
November 4, 2014.
Lola
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 6:12 p.m.
How many people did they need to hire to implement this system? Don't we have better things to do within the education system, like educating our children? (Runs off to check calendar and make sure it's not April 1st.)
Richard
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 6:07 p.m.
Are they going to have to fly that colored flag in front of the school?
denniso800
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 5:55 p.m.
So then, 50% is failing? 85% is perfect? Way to go! Glad to see that this is on par with the rest of our educational system.
tosviol8or
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 5:43 p.m.
Oh, NOW I get it! Why did it take so long for someone to come up with this to make everything crystal clear? Put it on the relentless positive action dashboard, baby! How long until the next tough decision gets made?
An Arborigine
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 5:18 p.m.
Kind of like the terror threat rainbow brought to you by the Department of Homeland Security and that went over so well. Somehow I'm feeling our educational homeland isn't so secure.
YpsiLivin
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 6:34 p.m.
My first thought was of the SNL sketch with "Tom Ridge" explaining the color-coded terrorist threat condition chart. :)
ArthGuinness
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 5:45 p.m.
That's exactly what I thought. But it's even more stupid than that: they already *have* a points system which could be reported directly, as opposed to the terror threat level which is more of a judgment call.
fjord
Mon, Aug 19, 2013 : 5:42 p.m.
Exactly. "Threat level orange."