By Dave Murray
(From MLive, May 10th, 2012)
LANSING, MI – Parents might know what an A means when they see it on a report card, but what if their school was graded “blue?”
The state Education Department is backing away from its plan to grade schools using three colors — red, yellow and green — to one that would use five colors, saying it would be more helpful to parents.
But several education advocacy groups say the new plan is better than the “traffic light,” but still falls short of a report card system they said works well in other states and gives parents a clear indication of a school’s progress.
“We’re glad to hear about the five categories — a big improvement for the new public reporting system,” said Amber Arellano, executive director of the Education Trust -Midwest. “We still think parents intuitively understand an A to F system better than a color system. For example, what does “yellow” mean to a parent in terms of school quality?”
The color-coded plan also contradicts the recommendation from a new legislative education quality work group, which has called for a report card as one of several proposed reforms.
The ranking system is part of the state Education Department’s application to the federal government to waive No Child Left Behind requirements, which aimed for having all students become proficient in key subjects by 2014.