In an earlier post I asked the question “What’s Your Grade”? in reference to what you think would be your school and school district grades under the newly developed A-F grading system recently released in draft form by the State Department of Education. A friend and colleague who has a bit of a nerdy inclination combined with an accountant’s attraction to Excel (which works well for him professionally) took the draft guidelines and built a matrix that computes all the possible combinations of point values that come to pass when you match “Whole School Improvement” with “Student Achievement Scores” as called for in the A-F system. As it turns out, there are 625 possible combinations that can be achieved in the matrix. Of those 625 combinations, only 3 will result in a grade of A. 30 result in a grade of F. The vast majority result in grades of C or of D.
School Grades – Presents all 625 possible combinations of Student Achievement Scores (row 10), Annual Learning Gains (row 12), Whole School Improvement (column D), and Learning Gains, Bottom 25% (column F). Index and you will find the raw score and a color code for grade.
I.E. Student Achievement Score grade of B
+ Annual Learning Gain grade of C
+ Whole School Improvement grade of B
+ and Bottom 25% grade of A
= Raw score of 300, School Grade of B as seen in Column N, Row 18.
Not satisfied with this effort, my friend then calculated the possible Student Achievement Scenarios of a 10 student sample (more than ten got waaay to messy). In this matrix he worked all the possible combinations of Advanced and Proficient. The gray areas represent students scoring Unsatisfactory or Limited Knowledge (which both earn 0 points). The clear and colored squares represent the relative number of Advanced and Satisfactory scores and the resulting school grade that results with that particular ratio of A/P to U/LK. In this scenario the combined total of B, C, and D grades is lower than the total number of F grades.
Student Achievement – Presents possible Student Achievement Score scenarios of a 10 student sample. Row 8 identifies how many of the 10 are Unsatisfactory or Limited Knowledge. Underneath that section, you can see all possible combinations of Advanced and Proficient and the corresponding grade.
I.E. 2 Unsatisfactory/Limited Knowledge students leads you to columns I-K.
From there, if you have 4 advanced and 4 proficient, you would go to row 14. This shows a grade of .88.
PDF files of these matrices can be obtained by clicking their title links.
The comment period for the draft A-F rules ends at 4 PM on March 19th. Send written comments on A-F or other draft rules submissions to the State Board of Education Office, 2500 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-4599, or rules@sde.ok.gov.
Find a copy of the proposed rules here: DraftRulesA-F.
What’s Your Grade (part 2)
In an earlier post I asked the question “What’s Your Grade”? in reference to what you think would be your school and school district grades under the newly developed A-F grading system recently released in draft form by the State Department of Education. A friend and colleague who has a bit of a nerdy inclination combined with an accountant’s attraction to Excel (which works well for him professionally) took the draft guidelines and built a matrix that computes all the possible combinations of point values that come to pass when you match “Whole School Improvement” with “Student Achievement Scores” as called for in the A-F system. As it turns out, there are 625 possible combinations that can be achieved in the matrix. Of those 625 combinations, only 3 will result in a grade of A. 30 result in a grade of F. The vast majority result in grades of C or of D.
School Grades – Presents all 625 possible combinations of Student Achievement Scores (row 10), Annual Learning Gains (row 12), Whole School Improvement (column D), and Learning Gains, Bottom 25% (column F). Index and you will find the raw score and a color code for grade.
I.E. Student Achievement Score grade of B
+ Annual Learning Gain grade of C
+ Whole School Improvement grade of B
+ and Bottom 25% grade of A
= Raw score of 300, School Grade of B as seen in Column N, Row 18.
Not satisfied with this effort, my friend then calculated the possible Student Achievement Scenarios of a 10 student sample (more than ten got waaay to messy). In this matrix he worked all the possible combinations of Advanced and Proficient. The gray areas represent students scoring Unsatisfactory or Limited Knowledge (which both earn 0 points). The clear and colored squares represent the relative number of Advanced and Satisfactory scores and the resulting school grade that results with that particular ratio of A/P to U/LK. In this scenario the combined total of B, C, and D grades is lower than the total number of F grades.
Student Achievement – Presents possible Student Achievement Score scenarios of a 10 student sample. Row 8 identifies how many of the 10 are Unsatisfactory or Limited Knowledge. Underneath that section, you can see all possible combinations of Advanced and Proficient and the corresponding grade.
PDF files of these matrices can be obtained by clicking their title links.
The comment period for the draft A-F rules ends at 4 PM on March 19th. Send written comments on A-F or other draft rules submissions to the State Board of Education Office, 2500 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-4599, or rules@sde.ok.gov.
Find a copy of the proposed rules here: DraftRulesA-F.