Though I cannot speak for the board, I am sure all are happy that 9 of our 14 schools have been awarded an "A" rating. This is an accomplishment the district and everyone involved should be proud of.
Yet, also recently updated are the assessment scores for Queen Creek Unified School District (QCUSD) on their website, with a dismal 55% for Math and 53% for English/Reading. This is not just a QCUSD problem but a problem trending nationwide; assessment scores are consistently falling. Parents and the community like to know their children attend high-rated schools, but that rating is based on state averages. So, while it is great to know that our district is one of the top-rated schools in our state, the AZED.gov A-F Letter Grade Accountability System Business Rules document provides insight into the complex formula for the grades.
Simplistically stated, our schools are graded on the curve. Statements like "average points," "compared to the results of schools statewide," and "scores amongst student demographic groups" provide insight that these grades are based on far more than reading, writing and arithmetic proficiency. This is where I believe school boards nationwide are failing our students. We are responsible for ensuring that assessment scores are at an acceptable level and in the 50% range, which is essentially an F on the traditional scoring scale used in schools unless you’re grading on a curve.
For more than 10 years, districts have tried a variety of new curriculums and approaches to education to inspire and build a well-rounded student. Still, these resulting test scores prove these well-meaning approaches have failed. Many parents have been appalled by Common Core, Critical Race Theory (CRT), Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and several other learning approaches/methods that only result in our children being passed on year to year, unable to read or perform math at their grade level. Added to this problem, implementing policies that keep the student from being held back further fails our children.
It is time parents and the community funding these public systems demand that the teaching methods and curriculum of the proven past be reinstated, that our children are not graded on a curve but based upon how they perform, and they learn the consequences of not achieving the expected goals by being able to fail and be held back when needed. We are doing our children no favor, coddling them into thinking they are successful by altering the standard to which they are measured. Once out of school and in the "real world," they will find out fast that less than adequate work will hold them back from the success they want and desire to achieve.
James Knox is a member of the Queen Creek Unified School District Governing Board.
Materials he references are here:
