Arizona board approves school accountability scores
Prepares to release letter grades
Screenshot/AZDOE
Arizona education officials approved new school accountability measures Oct. 26 focused on giving families a clearer picture of student achievement, even as board members questioned whether the state's A-F grading system remains too complicated for parents to understand.
The Arizona State Board of Education approved scoring thresholds for the 2025-26 school year on Oct. 26, clearing the way for the release of school and district letter grades before Nov. 1.
The board also approved a separate set of accountability measures for the 2026-27 school year, continuing its effort to provide families with more detailed information about school performance.
For the 2025-26 school year, the board voted to maintain the previous year's accountability cut scores for traditional, hybrid, alternative and Arizona Online Instruction schools.
The decision keeps the thresholds used to assign A-F letter grades consistent with the prior year.
Rebecca Beebe, representing Arizona School Administrators, urged the board to retain those thresholds, arguing that changing expectations could make year-to-year comparisons misleading.
"Raising the threshold could cause a school's letter grade to fall, even if students improve their academic performance, which would definitely confuse parents," Beebe said.
The board separately approved concordance-based cut scores for five indicators in the 2026-27 accountability system: English language learner performance, graduation rates, growth toward graduation, acceleration readiness and the College and Career Readiness Indicator.
The approach is intended to align the distribution of grades for individual indicators with the overall A-F accountability system.
Beebe supported the change, saying individual indicators could provide families with information that a single school letter grade cannot fully capture.
"Reporting individual indicators, including English language learner performance, graduation rates, growth to graduation, acceleration readiness, and CCRI can provide a fuller and more meaningful picture of school performance to parents," she said.
Board members also discussed the complexity of the accountability system and whether families can readily understand what each letter grade represents.
Board member Jennifer Krivikas questioned whether the state has sufficiently defined the characteristics of an A, B or C school.
She expressed concern the system relies heavily on mathematical calculations without explaining what the resulting grades mean.
Staff acknowledged those concerns and said the board could hold a future discussion about establishing clearer descriptions of school performance.
The board's broader accountability revisions also seek to distinguish different aspects of school performance rather than allowing strong results in one area to offset weaknesses in another.
Board staff described the approach as a shift from a compensatory system toward a more conjunctive accountability model.
Additional changes remain under consideration.
Executive Director Sean Ross said the board is expected to discuss potential timelines for raising accountability cut scores in December, following further work by its technical advisory committee.
A separate study session is also planned for late November or early December to examine how student academic growth is calculated.
Krivikas said the discussion should consider whether the state's calculations reflect the progress schools and families believe the measure represents.
The newly approved 2026-27 accountability measures will apply to school grades expected to be released in October 2027, not the 2025-26 grades scheduled for release this week.
Editor’s note: A grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation made this story possible. The foundation awarded 15 newsrooms to pay for solutions-focused education reporters for two years. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.
Meet Stacy Stacy Mantle is joining the team at Independent Newsmedia, Inc. as an Education Solutions journalist, thanks to a grant from the Arizona Community Collaborative. She has a long history in education that ranges from teaching junior high and middle school to developing curriculum and standards-based assessments.
Community: A longtime advocate for animal welfare, Stacy is deeply involved in rescue efforts and volunteers with several nonprofit organizations.
Random Fact: Once upon a time, she shared her home with a pet coyote and two wolf hybrids. The experiences were wild enough to become the subject of her first book!
Education: She holds a BA in English with a minor in Political Science, a Post-baccalaureate in Secondary Education, and an MBA with a emphasis on Marketing.
Hobbies: In her spare time, Stacy writes fast-paced urban fantasy novels, crafts small-batch artisan soap, and is always up for hiking or off-roading through the Arizona wilderness with her husband of 23 years.
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