The Van-Far Board of Education is formally rejecting the A-F school and district grading framework.

In a unanimous vote, board of education members approved a resolution opposing the A-F grading system created under Gov. Kehoe’s executive order 26-01 and urging legislative action. District Superintendent Natalie Gibson said that Van-Far, along with other districts that are members of the Missouri Superintendents Board Association, have the option to submit a letter outlining concerns to local legislators, which is what the board approved.

“Our board did decide they want to take a stance,” Gibson said. “I don’t know that it’s going to matter if they go on and release it, but to me, what matters is that my district staff is going to know that they have the support of those seven people who oppose this and find it not to be appropriate.”

To put the severity into perspective, Gibson pointed out that the last time the Van-Far Board of Education approved a resolution was to oppose open enrollment. 

The letter approved by the Van-Far Board of Education asks that legislators:

• Prohibit a summative letter grade for schools and districts, or at least require any state rating system be authorized in statute and adopted through rulemaking with public comment
• Oppose legislation that would place the current A-F framework into state law without significant improvement
• Insist on improvements including: credit for students who graduate in five to seven years, measures beyond test scores, context for student demographics, a full data review period for districts before grades are made public and a guarantee that grades will not be tied to funding, sanctions of vouchers without separate action by the General Assembly should it move forward
• Ensure that state dollars spent producing grade cards does not come at the expense of classroom resources

APR versus grade cards

The Annual Performance Report, required by the Missouri Schools Improvement Plan 6, is used to determine a district’s accreditation status and each annual report is based on the year prior.

“We already had a more stringent measure than this A-F grade card,” Gibson said. 

According to a side-by-side comparison of the A-F Grades versus the APR, issued by MSBA, the yearly APR is based 70% on test results and 30% on continuous improvement where the A-F grade card is based primarily on test scores and new, untested growth to proficiency metrics.

The APR and A-F system both measure student achievement in English language arts, math and science as well as value-added growth. The A-F system does not account for demographic differences such as English language learners, nor does it account for students who qualify for free and reduced lunch like APR does.

Graduation rates are also considered differently in the APR and A-F grades. Gibson said that the push to have documentation submitted by June will not include students who do not graduate in the traditional four-year timeframe whereas the APR considers 5, 6 and 7-year graduates.

Gibson worries about this now more than ever after a student in her district, Kashton Rhodes, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in his senior year. Should Rhodes need to take time off school for treatment and miss graduation, it will count against the district’s grade. 

“I’m not saying this is his story, but it could be at any moment,” Gibson said. “He may have to leave school and go take treatment and be gone. Why would we punish that student or us as a district?” 

She added that the goalpost will be moved as the executive order includes plans to raise the scale once 65% of buildings earn an A or B grade.

Gibson admits she probably can’t stop the grading system from happening, but she wants it to be clear that the Van-Far School District is more than a letter grade. 

“There is not a single public education supporter who believes in this and there’s some issues with funding,” she said.

According to MSBA, the program will cost $518,000 initially and the upkeep every year is expected to cost $715,00.