Two letter grades lead to confusion for schools, officials say

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HANCOCK COUNTY — School districts in Hancock County maintained their overall state letter grades in 2017-18, earning the same rating as they did for the school year prior.

Three of the county’s four public school corporations — Southern Hancock, Mt. Vernon and Eastern Hancock — kept their top “A” marks from the Indiana Department of Education. Greenfield-Central schools maintained a “B” letter grade for the third year running.

But for the first time in many years, each school received two letter grades — one state and one federal — and it’s causing some confusion. Because federal and state scores are calculated using different formulas, some schools received two different scores.

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It’s unclear for how long districts will receive federal grades. Local school leaders say they’re giving the state grades heavier weight for now.

Under the state grading formula, 13 public schools in Hancock County are considered “A” schools and seven are considered “B” schools, data from the department of education shows.

Under the federal formula, only four public local schools are “A” schools; 16 were deemed “B” schools.

Only one school in the county — Greenfield Central Junior High School — is considered a “C” school; it earned that letter grade in both rating systems.

Some local private schools also received letter grades.

St. Michael School in Greenfield earned an “A” rating from the state but was not given a federal grade. Geist Montessori Academy in McCordsville was deemed a “B” school by both federal and state formulas.

Zion Lutheran School in New Palestine was not listed in the accountability summaries released by the state.

No Hancock County schools were rated D or F, data shows.

The Indiana Department of Education performance grades are based on student growth. At the elementary level, ISTEP scores — how students fare on the exam and whether they’ve demonstrated growth from the year prior — are used to calculate the rankings. At the high school level, the department looks at a variety of factors, including the graduation rate and how students perform on advanced placement exams.

The federal law — put in place by the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act — takes into account factors such as attendance and English-language learning, and also requires certain low-performing schools to be marked as either needing targeted or comprehensive support, according to The Associated Press.

The Indiana Board of Education tried to revamp its grading system to fit the federal model but stopped after educators expressed concern, according to AP. Instead, the board decided to release two scores.

Roughly 67 percent of public schools received the same letter grade for both state and federal accountability systems, with 31 percent of schools receiving a higher letter grade on the state accountability system, according to the state.

EASTERN HANCOCK

That scenario play out here. For example, all three Eastern Hancock schools received “A” ratings from the state for the second year in a row. Under the federal formula, the district’s middle school and elementary school received a “B” ranking.

Eastern Hancock’s superintendent, Vicki McGuire, said having two grades is confusing and unnecessary. It results in the system getting bogged down in legalities of federal vs. state grades, she said.

“It is more important for our teachers to educate our students through what they know they need in order to be successful once they step out of the school corporation into college, the job force and subsequently real life,” McGuire wrote in an email to the Daily Reporter.

Looking forward, Eastern Hancock will continue to focus on helping students improve and celebrating their successes, she said.

“I certainly attribute the success of Eastern Hancock to such dedication of teachers, parents, students and community,” she said. “We will continue to put the needs of students first and monitor their progress, making interventions wherever needed so each can be as successful as possible.”

SOUTHERN HANCOCK

Four out of five Southern Hancock schools earned an “A” accountability grade from the state. The remaining building, Sugar Creek Elementary, earned a “B.”

Those “A” grades were improvements for Brandywine Elementary School and New Palestine Elementary School, which were given “B” grades by the state last year. But Sugar Creek Elementary dropped from an “A” school to a “B” school.

New Palestine High School and Doe Creek Middle School maintained an “A” rating for 2017-18.

District officials are not sure which area of growth set Sugar Creek back, said Wes Anderson, the district’s director of community relations. Schools are not provided detailed information about student testing, just final scores, making it more difficult for educators to sometimes zero in on areas needing attention, he said.

“Not having that breakout data hinders our ability to identify specific areas of student weaknesses on the test,” Anderson said.

Southern Hancock, too, saw discrepancies in state vs. federal grades. All of its buildings were deemed “B” schools by the federal formula.

It’s frustrating, Anderson admitted. It feels like a target is being moved just as it’s being hit, he said.

Though the federal and state grades consider many of the same factors, they weigh those factors differently. Things like student attendance are taken into account by both formulas; but one considers attendance on a school-wide basis, while the others factors it in student by student, Anderson said.

Like others in the county, Southern Hancock is watching the state board of education’s moves carefully to see whether they do away with the dual-grade system. If this standard is going to be around longer, schools will have to reconsider how they do things, Anderson said.

GREENFIELD-CENTRAL

Harold Olin, superintendent for Greenfield-Central Schools, said he’s also paying closer attention to the state scores rather than the federal ones because the state grading formula gives more weight to the district’s graduation rate.

That’s an area where Greenfield-Central Schools has been steadily improving, Olin said, and it’s something to celebrate.

But whether the grades come from the federal government or the state, they don’t always completely capture the good work being done in the school buildings every day, Olin said.

Greenfield-Central has taken care to incorporate classes into the curriculum at its high school and junior high school that support non-traditional learners and build up the academic academies.

Those successes won’t show in a letter grade but are still something to be proud of, Olin said.

Under the federal rating system, only Eden Elementary School was deemed an “A” school. The rest of the schools were given a “B” grade, except the district’s junior high school, which was given a “C.”

The district’s elementary and intermediate schools saw improved state scores.

J.B. Stephens Elementary School saw the biggest leap, improving from a “C” school in 2016-17 to “A” in 2017-18.

Eden and Weston elementary schools and Maxwell Intermediate School earned “A” ratings this year, up from a “B” grade last year. Harris Elementary and Greenfield Intermediate improved from a “C” last year to “B”.

Greenfield-Central High School dropped from an “A” school in 2016-17 a “B” rating.

Greenfield Central Junior High School was the only school district in the county to have a C rating.

MT. VERNON

Mt. Vernon was the only district to not see differences in its buildings’ state and federal scores.

Mt. Vernon High School and McCordsville Elementary School earned “A” grades — the same scores they had the year before. Mt. Vernon Middle School kept its “B” letter grade.

Fortville Elementary School dropped from “A” in 2016-17 to “B” in 2017-18. Mt. Comfort Elementary School improved from “C” to “B.”

District officials touted improved ISTEP scores in the lowest 25th percentile of students at McCordsville Elementary as the cause for the gain in the state’s accountability scores.

A comprehensive process of changing the way mathematics are taught at the school led to the improvements, said Stephanie Miller, McCordsville Elementary principal.

Administrators overhauled instructional practices, hired new teachers and emphasized technology like Study Island, an online-based learning program, Miller said.

“People on my team are now willing to take those steps to improve; they accept change as constructive and buy in to the processes. They realize it’s not just about ISTEP,” Miller said. “I’m proud of my staff, it was a tough step to make.”

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Here are the grades each school in Hancock County received from the Indiana Department of Education for 2017-18. The schools also received a separate federal grade this year. Those scores are in parenthesis.

Eastern Hancock Schools

Eastern Hancock Middle School: A (B)

Eastern Hancock High School: A (A)

Eastern Hancock Elementary School: A (B)

Greenfield-Central Schools

Maxwell Intermediate School: A (B)

Greenfield Central Junior High School: C (C)

Eden Elementary School: A (A)

JB Stephens Elementary School: A (B)

Greenfield Intermediate School: B (B)

Greenfield-Central High School: B (B)

Harris Elementary School: B (B)

Weston Elementary School: A (B)

Mt. Vernon Schools

Fortville Elementary School: B (B)

Mt. Vernon Middle School: B (B)

Mt. Comfort Elementary School: B (B)

Mt. Vernon High School: A (A)

McCordsville Elementary School: A (A)

Southern Hancock Schools

Brandywine Elementary School: A (B)

New Palestine Elementary School: A (B)

New Palestine High School: A (B)

Doe Creek Middle School: A (B)

Sugar Creek Elementary School: B (B)

Private schools

Geist Montessori Academy: B (B)

Saint Michael School: A (No federal grade awarded)

Source: Indiana Department of Education

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“It is more important for our teachers to educate our students through what they know they need in order to be successful once they step out of the school corporation into college, the job force and subsequently real life.”

Vicki McGuire, Eastern Hancock superintendent, reacting to confusion over state and federal standards

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The state performance grades are based on student growth. At the elementary level, ISTEP scores are used to calculate the rankings. At the high school level, the department looks at a variety of factors, including the graduation rate and how students perform on advanced placement exams.

The federal law takes into account factors such as attendance and English-language learning, among other things.

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