A Primer on School Letter Grades: Key Facts for Parents and Families
Every year, the Arizona School Board of Education measures the performance of schools. These ratings, called School Letter Grades, are important metrics for K-12 staff. Teachers, principals, administrators, and students work closely together to show ongoing improvement.
If you’re a parent (or part of a child’s family support system), it’s a good idea to become familiar with the school letter grades system and process. There are a couple of reasons why. The first is empowerment. It’s well-known that a child’s educational success takes place both inside and outside of the classroom. With an understanding of your school’s performance, you can actively seek resources to support your child’s learning.
The second reason is community participation. As a parent or family member of a child, your voice is important. Remember that nonprofit and community partners are here to listen to your ideas and support you if your child needs help. Specifically, if your child attends a school that has a Restart SMART partnership, please know that the Support Specialists can help bridge the relationship between the school and your family.
The best way to become familiar with the school letter grades assessment process is to educate yourself. In this article, we share some basic information and tips for staying engaged in the school letter grades process.
School Letter Grades Overview: What It Means, Why It Matters
School Letter Grades are accountability models required by Arizona law. According to Arizona Revised Statutes § 15-241, every public school in the state receives an achievement profile on an A-F scale. The system measures the following, according to the Arizona Department of Education:
Year-over-year academic growth
Proficiency on English language arts; math and science
Academic growth of English language learners
Indicators that an elementary student is ready for success in high school
Indicators that high school students are ready to succeed in a career or higher education and high school graduation rates
Schools receiving “A” grades are excellent, “B” schools are highly performing, “C” schools are adequately performing, “D” schools are minimally performing, and “F” schools are failing. A more detailed explanation is available here.
These scores are important for holding schools and their staff accountable to a common set of standards.. Every year, school administrators work hard to improve the performance of schools, often relying on support provided by nonprofit partners such as Higher Ground, to bridge gaps that exist to support the learning and development of individual learners.
In recent years, School Letter Grades have been a particularly important signal for assessing recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.
“We had a large dip in testing scores coming out of COVID and schools have been working really hard to improve those over the last couple years," explains Arizona School Board Association Director of Governmental Relations Chris Kotterman in an interview with KJZZ, who says that schools are beginning to recover from pandemic learning loss.
“We had a large dip in testing scores coming out of COVID and schools have been working really hard to improve those over the last couple years," Kotterman said.
For the 2022-2023 academic year, more schools went up than down, overall, according to KJZZ:
There are 97 more A schools, 40 fewer B schools, 8 fewer C schools, 7 more D schools, and 9 fewer F schools.
Most schools in Arizona (74%) received As or Bs, according to AZCentral, with 34% receiving As and 40% receiving Bs. Fewer than 1% received Fs.
The Stories Behind the Metrics
In addition to high-level A-F grades, every school in Arizona receives a report card, which provides more detail into the reasons for every A-F score. You can go deeper into year-over-year trends on topics such as chronic absenteeism, teacher qualifications, incidents of violence, and other details that may be relevant to your child.
Here is a list of School Letter Grades Report Cards for schools that are part of Higher Ground’s Restart SMART schools network:
These numbers may be a challenge for many people to understand. If you need help or have questions, you can reach out to your child’s school directly for more guidance and information.
Actions You Can Take to Support Your Child
Whether attending an A school or an F school, it is important to remember that every child has the potential to succeed. One of the most important steps you can take is to support your child’s unique learning journey as an individual. Here are some suggestions:
Stay aware of events including back-to-school sessions and parent-teacher conferences, so you can be a part of your child’s learning journey to the best extent possible. No parent is perfect, so do not be hard on yourself if you cannot attend an event.
Remain connected with teachers, counselors, and support specialists, by simply reaching out to ask questions about your child’s progress. A simple email is a great way to start.
Talk to your children about their interests, to see if their school environment is fully nurturing their passions. If not, remember that there are additional options for free or low cost extracurriculars. Online resources like Khan Academy, Coursera, and Outschool are potential places to start.
Reach out to fellow parents to share knowledge and resources. You may even consider starting a WhatsApp group to ensure consistent communication — which may be especially helpful for teachers and school administrators who are shouldering heavy workloads.
Reach out to nonprofit and community partners. Learn which organizations are already present at your child’s school, so that you can reach out for additional suggestions and support.
The bottom line is to remember that you are not alone. Regardless of whether your child is thriving or struggling, you’re surrounded by a community that cares about your family’s well-being. These days, for many people, life can feel overwhelming or fast-paced. In these moments, the saying “it takes a village” holds particularly true. Everyone needs support, no matter how well (or not) they may be doing.
Have Questions? Reach Out to Higher Ground.
If Higher Ground operates a Restart SMART site at your child’s school, you can simply talk to one of our site directors! This individual will know what resources are available at your school and have suggestions for your family’s specific needs. You can learn more about our Restart SMART sites and access a list of site directors, who may be familiar faces to you, here.
Know you can come to us with any questions or specific struggles that you’d like help addressing. Consider us a guide into a community that already surrounds you and cares about your children’s success. You can reach out to the Higher Ground team, directly, here, with questions related to School Letter Grades — or something else entirely. We look forward to hearing from you.
This post was a collaboration between Higher Ground teammates Kat St.Pierre and Ritika Puri.