Opinion

Grade reflation

TBO.com
Published: July 26, 2012

It seems like it was only last week that we were noting the large drop in the grades public schools earned from the Florida Department of Education for the 2011-12 school year, compared to the previous year. In fact, it was only last week we were noting this, in an editorial headlined "Grade Deflation."

At the time we noted that state education officials had warned that many schools' grades would be lower because one of the tests used to determine school grades had gotten a lot harder. As it turns out, things may not have been quite as bad as they seemed at first — or maybe they are worse.

Late last week, the Department of Education announced that many schools were having their grades revised upward by one letter. Among the changes were 100 schools rising to an A from a B and seven schools up to a D from an F.

We won't bore you with the gory details, but the department said many schools got lower grades than they should have because one of the measures of student performance used in setting the school grades, called "learning gains," was not given proper weight when the grades were calculated.

Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson pledged to look for ways to improve the school grading system. We certainly hope so. There is already a lot of criticism and cynicism with public education system about school grades.

Last week's error admission will only increase it outside public education circles as well.