Many Northwest Arkansas schools -- like others across the state -- saw their grades tumble in this year's school report cards, a fact officials attribute largely to a change in the tests on which the grades are based.
Haas Hall Academy, a charter school for grades seven through 12, was the only school in Benton and Washington counties that received an A on its report card this year, and one of only 10 in the state that did so. More than a quarter of Northwest Arkansas schools earned A's last year.
Report cards
School district/charter school * A * B * C * D
Arkansas Arts Academy * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0
Bentonville * 0 * 8 * 9 * 1
Decatur * 0 * 0 * 2 * 1
Elkins * 0 * 2 * 0 * 2
Farmington * 0 * 2 * 3 * 0
Fayetteville * 0 * 7 * 7 * 0
Gentry * 0 * 2 * 2 * 0
Gravette * 0 * 2 * 2 * 0
Greenland * 0 * 0 * 2 * 1
Haas Hall Academy * 1 * 0 * 0 * 0
Lincoln * 0 * 0 * 3 * 0
Pea Ridge * 0 * 1 * 3 * 0
Prairie Grove * 0 * 1 * 1 * 2
Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy * 0 * 2 * 0 * 0
Rogers * 0 * 6 * 16 * 0
Siloam Springs * 0 * 1 * 5 * 0
Springdale * 0 * 1 * 12 * 14
West Fork * 0 * 0 * 3 * 0
Source: Arkansas Department of Education
Web watch
To view Arkansas school report cards, a searchable table is available at http://www.nwadg.co…
The grades reflect student performance on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, given for the first and only time in 2015. Students the previous year took state benchmark and end-of-course exams. This year, students are taking the ACT Aspire.
Other factors, such as graduation rate and whether a school is performing above expectations, also are taken into account in the calculation of school grades.
Each school received a numerical score in addition to a letter grade from the state Department of Education. Letter grades are assigned based on points earned on various measures. Schools with 270 points or more receive an A. Schools with fewer than 180 points receive an F.
No school in Northwest Arkansas received an F. The closest was Springdale's Jones Elementary School, which had a score of 181.
Springdale's highest letter grade was a B for Bernice Young Elementary School. The district had 12 schools with a C and 14 with a D.
The grades represent a snapshot of the baseline year for the Partnership exams, said Megan Witonski, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Last year's grades were based on the state's benchmark and end-of-course exams. Next year's grades will be based on the ACT Aspire tests being given this spring.
"It is difficult to compare grades between years until we have multiple years with a consistent assessment," Witonski said.
With inconsistency in the state's testing system, Springdale schools have found a more consistent measure of student achievement through a different testing system, the Measures of Academic Performance given three times a year, Witonski said.
"We do have a consistent measure of MAP results through the years, which helps us to determine point in time remediation or advancement skills that students need," Witonski said.
Parents should talk to their child's teacher, principal or school district leaders if they have questions about school grades, Witonski said.
"The point-in-time snapshot that letter grades encompass is not necessarily reflective of what students know and are able to do in the classroom each day," Witonski said. "Springdale School District has a mantra to get better at getting better each day and we use any assessment results or feedback to do that."
Out of the 129 schools in Benton and Washington counties, 25 dropped at least two letter grade levels -- from an A to a C, for example -- between last year's and this year's report cards. Only 12 area schools improved grades from last year.
Janie Darr, superintendent of the Rogers School District, issued a letter on the district's website this week about the report cards. Darr sought to assure families despite the district's seemingly mediocre grades -- six B's and 16 C's -- Rogers remains an excellent district.
"As expected with a new, more rigorous test given on computers for the first time, students in the state and in our district did not show as high of achievement in their first attempt as they did on more familiar tests," Darr wrote. "Consequently, school letter grades look lower than we would expect this year."
Report card grades for the Fayetteville School District showed seven schools received a B and seven received a C. That comes one year after Fayetteville received four A's, seven B's, two C's and one D.
"I look at this as just one element to look at for schools," said Paul Hewitt, Fayetteville's superintendent. "Does this fit and does it make sense?"
Vandergriff Elementary School, earned the highest numerical score of 269 for a B, and Owl Creek School earned the lowest score of 222 points for a C.
But Vandergriff Elementary also was one of five schools in the state to receive a National Blue Ribbon Schools award from the U.S. Department of Education last year, an award Hewitt thinks recognizes it as one of the best elementary schools in the country, he said.
The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes public and private elementary, middle and high schools where students either demonstrate high performance on standardized tests or have made progress toward closing achievement gaps.
"I have to question what's really going on and look at other factors of student performance and parent satisfaction and the quality of teaching I see at the school," Hewitt said.
If parents are concerned about the grade their child's school received, Hewitt suggested they visit classrooms and evaluate how their child is doing, he said.
"Put everything into perspective," he said. "There's too much conflicting information."
NW News on 04/16/2016