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PHOENIX - Changes are coming to how Arizona grades its schools. This comes after a state audit found some A-rated schools have less than 10% of students testing proficient in math or English.
What they're saying:
Real estate agent and broker, Sam Miller, says it comes up all the time when homebuyers ask about a neighborhood.
"Schools are very important," Miller said. In fact, an excellent school rating can increase property value and demand.
"If they've got a young family or a family that is school-aged soon, they're going to be looking at those grades and how impactful that is. I think it's important to rely on your real estate agent and your family and friends as well," Miller said.
Why you should care:
That's what makes this latest report from the state auditor general so impactful. The grades your neighborhood school gets may not tell the full story about the performance.
"As soon as I took office, I realized there were problems with the system, and it needed to be changed," Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said.
Horne doesn't disagree with the new audit. It found 92% of high schools were awarded A or B letter grades, but some "did not appear to meet the established criteria for these grades."
In fact, one school got an A while only 9.6% of students were proficient in math. Another A-rated school only reported 8.6% of students were proficient in English.
"Parents would say, ‘How did they get an A rating when they have low proficiency?’ So that all has to be reformed," Horne said.
Growth is weighted heavily, which partially explains that. Horne says they are working to reform the system in the next year or two, potentially creating two separate grades, with one for growth and one for proficiency.
"We need to improve the system so that there's a limit no matter how much you improve, if the proficiency is low, you shouldn't be able to get an A but you should be able to get a B," Horne said.
What you can do:
To get the full story on your child's school, go to the Department of Education's website. There you can find a school, comb through the data yourself and compare. It has a lot of information beyond just grades and proficiency scores.