After most students across the county and state lacked proficiency on a new state exam, local school officials took advantage of an opportunity to be held harmless for those results, and keep their schools’ 2017-18 letter grades instead.
State letter grades were released Wednesday, months later than expected. Center Grove Community Schools and Greenwood Community Schools received As, while Clark-Pleasant Community School, Franklin Community Schools, Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson Schools and Edinburgh Community Schools received Bs.
Last month, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill to prevent test scores from the inaugural ILEARN exam from impacting letter grades and teacher evaluations. The action, called a hold harmless, means schools and teachers will not face any consequences for last year’s results. School officials had the option this year to use results from the 2017-18 school year if they were better than the results from last year, and almost all Johnson County schools did.
Three Franklin schools opted for 2018-19 grades, including Union Elementary School, which went from a B to an A, as well as Northwood and Creekside elementary schools, both of which went from a C to a B. School letter grades are based on student test scores, student growth and graduation rates.
Despite improvements in those three schools, four Franklin schools received Cs, the most of any school district in the county.
The hold harmless will also be in effect for performance during this school year, meaning school officials can choose between whichever grade they opted for this year and the grade they receive next year, said Adam Baker, spokesperson for the Indiana Department of Education.
Test scores affect school letter grades and teacher evaluations. But there is a larger conversation to be had about the impact testing has on how schools and teachers are evaluated, Baker said.
“It’s going to be a very complex discussion, but having those discussions means we’re in the right place. (We shouldn’t) stop discussing how we ensure students are receiving a quality education and educators are receiving what they should,” Baker said. “We need to continue to strive toward an academic system we’re proud of.”
Still, any fundamental changes to the way schools are graded will have to come from state lawmakers, he said.
Greenwood schools received some of the highest grades in the county, with all but Northwood Elementary School receiving As. Northwood earned a B. Due to the changes in testing, though, Superintendent Kent DeKoninck said he has a difficult time getting excited about those results.
“It continues to be a system we continue having a hard time having a lot of faith in,” DeKoninck said. “Although it shows us in a really good light, we have to take it for what it’s worth.”
Center Grove schools, which chose to keep its 2017-18 grades, also came out on top. Of its nine schools, only Center Grove Middle School North and North Grove Elementary School received Bs. The rest earned As.
