Creating a School Rating System

A bill designed to provide parents a tool to review the performance of Minnesota schools came before the Senate E-12 Education Policy Committee Tuesday, March 13. Sponsored by Senator Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, the bill directs the Department of Education to assign a star rating and an academic achievement rating to schools and school districts. The ratings would be based on several factors, including student performance on reading and math tests, graduation rates and student of color performance.

Senator Chamberlain said the rating system would be using data already collected. "We all need information, and for many parents...one of the most important decisions for them is where their kids go to school."

Several testifiers in support of the bill said the proposed system would be a more unified, better approach than the current system, which provides information on a variety of standards but is challenging to navigate.

Speaking in support of the legislation, Daniel Sellers of EdAllies said by offering centralized data, "I do hope will allow parents to engage in the data in a different and more complete way."

Senator Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, expressed concern over the proposed approach. "I think we are creating a system that gives a false sense of confidence in the information that the parents are being given, and that will ultimately limit their ability," she said.