The North Judson-San Pierre School Board this week discussed the letter grades they received from the state, and Superintendent Lynn Johnson said they are pleased with the grades but she has her concerns about the validity of the evaluation model.
The North Judson-San Pierre Elementary School received an A from the state, the middle school earned a B, and the high school returned a C. Johnson said that they are proud of the grades and, based on the information provided, the schools have shown good growth. However, Johnson said the grading methods are very complicated, specifically the student growth component.
She explained that students aren’t compared against themselves to measure growth, but rather against the score of a cohort group. Johnson said this can be misleading, because the information is designed so that one-third of students will always show low growth, despite possibly having high growth. If they are in a group that doesn’t compare favorably, Johnson said they could be pegged as a low-growth group.
So, while the corporation is pleased with their scores, Johnson has her reservations about the validity of the model. She said she would rather look at how much every student has grown in comparison to themselves.
