Giving Compass' Take:

• Christina Vercelletto reports that advocates are pushing school districts to use more comprehensive metrics for student success, but critics argue that these systems are too complicated. 

• How can philanthropy fund research to find a balance a system that is both comprehensive and easily comprehensible? 

• Learn more about schools trying to reconfigure their grading systems


Schools need to be held accountable for the performance of its students, so there must be some means of measuring that performance. Parents, the media, and lawmakers need to know which schools need help and in what areas. But there is little agreement on exactly what sort of system would best do that.

The standing system of A-F grades has been under fire in other states besides Ohio, including Florida and Michigan. Critics say they don't convey enough information, particularly about attributes of a school that go beyond accountability data. Other systems, though, such as the 1-100 index based on seven categories of performance, are criticized as being too complex to be easily grasped. Meanwhile, some note that the emphasis on performance measures pushes administrators into fudging facts and figures.

Read the full article about designing a grading system for K-12 by Christina Vercelletto at Education Dive.