BALTIMORE —
The Maryland state Board of Education is at odds over how it wants to grade schools using a five-star rating system.
For now, Maryland is sticking with a five-star rating system to determine which schools will get passing grades. The Board of Education passed the education plan Tuesday with a 7-2 vote.
This is all part of new federal requirements for the Every Student Succeeds Act. The state plan still needs approval from the U.S. Department of Education.
Discussion Tuesday lasted nearly two hours as state Board of Education members try to come up with a final school accountability plan that spells out how Maryland schools will be graded in the future.
“We need to empower parents with clarity of information so they can say, ‘Why is my school one star? What are you doing to change it?’ Or, ‘Oh my goodness, my school is a five star,'” said Andrew Smarick, president of the Board of Education.
For now, the star-rating system will stay in place, but with some minor adjustments. The state will now add arrows next to the stars to help explain school-by-school progress.
“The more we can get up front in terms of information, the better we can serve parents,” said David Steiner, a member of the Board of Education.
The latest revisions to the ESSA draft plan are getting a nod from the state’s teachers union when it comes to overall school rankings.
“We are not just using testing to provide resources and support to schools, we are now going to look at all of those things; all of the indicators and supports that schools need to really address them instead of just a test,” said Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association.
But some Board of Education members said the recent changes made to the grading system may not go far enough.
“We cannot create a system in which we are misleading people that their kid is going to a great school if it’s not or if they’re going to a bad school if it is,” said Chester Finn, a member of the Board of Education.
The Board of Education must submit its final education plan to the federal government by Sept. 18.