By Noel K. Gallagher ngallagher@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
http://www.pressherald.com/news/democrats-to-unveil-school-grading-alternative_2013-05-08.html
AUGUSTA – A week after heavily criticizing the state's new A-to-F school grading system, Maine Democrats said they will propose a different way to evaluate Maine's 600 public schools.
The plan will be introduced at a news conference at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the State House. The co-chairs of the Legislature's Education Committee – Sen. Rebecca Millett, D-Cape Elizabeth, and Rep. Bruce MacDonald, D-Boothbay – are leading the initiative.
They are proposing a concept bill with "at least a dozen" criteria for evaluating schools, said Ericka Dodge, spokeswoman for the Senate Democrats. She said the legislators will solicit input at the local level to come up with the evaluation system.
Critics say the state's A-to-F grading system, a hallmark of Gov. Paul LePage's education reform effort, is too simplistic because it's based largely on standardized test scores in math and English.
It
also accounts for students' growth and progress, and the performance
and growth of the bottom 25 percent of students. For high schools,
graduation rates are a factor.
More than a dozen other states use similar grading systems. It is the latest education initiative of LePage, who has been sharply critical of public schools.
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