Oklahoma Board Adopts A-F School Grading System

State School board members voted 4 to 2 to approve the new A through F grading system Thursday afternoon.

Both individual schools and districts will be graded. The grades will be based on their performance in a number of factors: 33% student assessment test scores ,17% annual student improvement gains on tests,17% annual gains for students in the lower 25%, and 33 % will be whole school improvement, which includes a number of factors such as graduation rates, ACT test scores, attendance rates, etc.

But board members passed the rules after considerable debate about how schools would appeal a grade. 

Some board members are also worried if a school got a grade lower than an A parents would move their children from the school

But a spokesperson for the state school district disagrees.

"What we've found in other states that have had similar reforms is if a school gets a low grade the parents and community members tend to rally around the school they tend to say ‘What can we do to improve this situation? How can we help?'," said Damon Gardenhire, the Communications Director for the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

Schools would have 30 days to appeal a grade before it was made public.

3/29/2012 Related Story: Some Oklahoma Schools Resist State Plan For Low-Performing Schools