Nine Jefferson County K-12 campuses received either a D or F in the newest wave of school letter grades released Friday by the Arkansas Department of Education, while grades for nine other campuses have been appealed.
The grades, based on performance in the spring Arkansas Teaching, Learning and Assessment System, result from what the department called the first year of full implementation under Arkansas’ accountability formula. Letter grades were not issued after the 2023-24 school year due to the state changing assessments from ACT Aspire to the ATLAS.
In the Pine Bluff School District: Pine Bluff High School and Broadmoor and 34th Avenue elementaries were graded F. James Matthews and Southwood elementaries were graded D. Pine Bluff Junior High filed an appeal.
In the Watson Chapel School District: Watson Chapel High School and Edgewood Elementary were graded F. Coleman Elementary and Watson Chapel Junior High filed an appeal.
In the White Hall School District: Hardin Elementary was graded B and Gandy Elementary was graded C. Moody and Taylor elementaries, White Hall Middle School and White Hall High School filed an appeal.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Among the Pine Bluff campuses of Friendship Aspire Academies of Arkansas, grades 6-8 of the Southeast Campus were graded D, and grades 9-10 of the high school campus were graded C. Downtown and Hazel Street elementaries filed an appeal.
The campuses that filed appeals did not have their grades released. Act 474 of this year’s state Legislature allows public and open-enrollment charter schools that do “not improve or maintain (their) most recent letter grade under the new accountability system” to request a review by the Division of Public School Accountability.
The Education Department’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education updated its accountability formula in April. According to the state school rating overview, each school earns points for nine measures equally weighted:
Achievement: Proficiency in English language arts, proficiency in math and proficiency in science;
Growth of all students: Meeting the growth target in ELA and English language proficiency, meeting the growth target in math and meeting the growth target in science;
Growth of lowest quarter: For grades K-8, meeting the growth target in ELA, math and science separately; and for grades 9-12, meeting the growth target in those three subjects combined; and
Success-ready graduation (for grades 9-12): Graduating in a four-year cohort and the percentage of graduates with merit or distinction. The department states: “A transitional readiness measure will be used until Success Ready Pathways are fully implemented.”
Across the state: 122 schools were graded A, 291 schools were graded B, 352 schools were graded C, 137 schools were graded D and 130 schools were graded F.
PINE BLUFF
While the law does not stipulate a timeline for the results of an appeal, Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree said she expects updated grades for her appealing campuses by the district’s October board meeting, during which she plans to offer deeper analysis into the grades after she says the district has had time to review. The PBSD board typically meets at 6:30 p.m. every fourth Monday.
“Since the test was new and it’s still so new, as far as some comparisons that the state granted, based on this law the districts could request an appeal if they wanted to keep the same letter grade they probably could have had before,” Barbaree said.
The Education Department said Friday districts were provided with simulated grades last year based on the first ATLAS tests issued that spring. This was so schools could review and understand the new formula, the department stated.
As far as her campuses that were grades D and F, Barbaree commented: “I know that we have a lot of work to do. We want performance to be achieving. We want to be an achieving district and achieving scores. However, I would also explain that this is growth for us.”
Elementary schools have consistently shown growth although achievement scores “are not where they need to be,” Barbaree added. In achievement, she explained, a student either meets or exceeds the standard.
“At some elementaries, we are above the state average in growing students, and that’s been our positive,” she said, explaining some students may have moved up one of the four scoring levels in the ATLAS – limited (Level 1), basic (Level 2), proficient (Level 3) or advanced understanding (Level 4).
WATSON CHAPEL
Superintendent Keith McGee said the letter grades the WCSD received do not reflect the hard work of the teachers, building principals and students. The WCSD filed an appeal for the junior high school, he said, to make sure the data was turned in correctly.
“One of the things we are continuing to see is the growth of the students in the observation and assessment,” McGee said. “We’ve just got to get our scholars to carry over the work into the assessment.”
One crucial piece to success McGee pointed out for Watson Chapel is for students to master subject standards and for teachers to teach them.
McGee invites any families who may be concerned about a school’s performance to visit the school and look into its programs, using the JROTC and associate degree programs at the high school as examples.
“We have those things in place at a high level already, so we have to continue to be ready to get those things up and look at our graduation rate and things of that nature, making sure we have all of our kids in the cohort,” McGee said. “We would invite families to visit the school and see the work our teachers and students are doing.”
WHITE HALL
Superintendent Gary Williams said the WHSD has appealed for four of its campuses based on the “newness” of the ATLAS.
“We’re still early in that test, and if you’re allowed to appeal and continue with your letter grade, they’ll decide if they will grant that or not,” Williams said, although Act 474 does not specify the possibility of retaining letter grades from 2023. That year, Moody was graded B; Hardin, Taylor, White Hall Middle and White Hall High were graded C; and Gandy was graded D.
FRIENDSHIP
Friendship communications director Kevin Young said public charter school system is appealing the grades for the elementary schools and the updated grades “are more likely to be higher based on our performance.”