New York City is tossing out the A-F school grading system adopted under former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Its new accountability system gives more weight to school factors such as good curriculum and positive climate and less weight to test scores.
This isn’t the first move the city has made under new Mayor Bill de Blasio to downplay the importance of test scores. In April, the education department announced that students’ promotions would no longer be based on a single test score.
The old system produced two annual reports for schools: one with an overall grade as well as grades in four subcategories, and a “quality review” that sized up the school in areas such as quality of instruction. The new system will produce two reports: a “school quality snapshot” for parents, and a “school quality guide” for administrators. There are also “family guides” that explain the reports.
