Reports of Delay on New, Tougher School Rating System May Be Exaggerated

Cinjo / Flickr

Ohio is seeing a tug of war over a new, proposed school grading system.

Last week, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported that Ohio Superintendent of Public Instruction Stan Heffner said schools would likely get “a year’s reprieve” from a tougher school report card system.

Those new grades are called for in Ohio’s application to the U.S. Department of Education for freedom from some parts of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The application says the new grading system would be rolled out in 2011 and 2012.

But Ohio Department of Education spokesperson Patrick Gallaway says Heffner actually still wants the new grades to “count” starting in the report cards that come out this summer. That means they would be the official state grades for school districts, traditional public schools and charter schools.

Why the discrepancy?

Part of the issue is that Heffner isn’t the sole decider.

The state Legislature must approve the new grading system, and they’re faced with opposition from both traditional public schools and charter schools.

Gallaway writes:

“Things can sometimes change when working through the legislative process.  We need to continue to work with the legislature as it moves along towards a final outcome. … We will also need to negotiate the final version of the waiver request with the [U.S. Department of Education], so we can’t fully commit to a hard date until we get past negotiations and the legislative process…”