A bill that passed the Arizona Senate would replace the A-F letter grade used to evaluate schools with a "dashboard" model.
Senate Bill 1411 unanimously passed the Arizona Senate on Tuesday. It creates a dashboard that shows — instead of a single grade for a school — a series of grades that represent academics, progress towards college and career readiness for high schools, and English language learner assessments.
Supporters called the proposal "positive movement" and pointed out it brings the state in line with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.
"That act, the ESSA Act, recognized there isn't a need for single, summative, A-F grades anymore," said Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix.
Quezada did try to get the Senate to adopt an amendment adding financial information, especially for charter schools, to the dashboard. That proposal failed on a voice vote.
The bill still faces a vote in the full House and approval from Gov. Doug Ducey.
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