Chandler Unified to appeal some state grades

Nov. 3—At first glance, Chandler Unified School District did not fare as well in the release of letter grades from the Arizona Department of Education. However, the district is hoping a little extra credit will improve its overall grade, currently at a "B."

"We are appealing the initial letter grades of four schools based on data and other issues noted in the state formula," said Stephanie Ingersoll, the district's director of communications and marketing. "If just one appeal is approved, the district will receive an 'A.' Additionally, each of the schools will earn the higher letter grades if their appeals go through."

The state released the preliminary letter grades for the 2023-2024 school year on Oct. 25. Each school and/or district has a right to appeal the grade until Nov. 15. They can only appeal on any of four reasons: Incorrect data, adverse testing conditions, school tragedy, and school/community events or emergency.

A committee of the State Board of Education hears the appeal and then makes a recommendation to the full board."

In the initial grades, 26 CUSD schools earned an "A," 13 got a "B," and five received a "C."

Last year, the district overall fared better, earning an "A."

CUSD had 30 schools earn an "A" in the 2022-2023 school year. Ten were awarded a "B" and four received a "C."

An "A" represents an "excellent" school marked by "distinguished performance on the statewide assessment, significant student growth, high four-year graduation rates, students on track to proficiency; overall performance is significantly higher than the state average."

A "B," or "highly performing," school shows "high performance on statewide assessment and/or significant student growth and/or higher four-year graduation rates and/or moving students to proficiency at a higher rate than the state average.

"C" represents "adequate performance but needs improvement on some indicators, such as proficiency, growth or graduation rate."

Nine CUSD schools saw their letter grade decline while five schools had an improving grade. Eight of those that declined got an "A" year ago. All but one of them are now B-grade schools.

Galveston Elementary dropped from an "A" to a "C." The others that fell from being an "A" school are Bogle; Chandler Traditional Academy (CTA) Humphrey; CTA Liberty; Conley; Frye; Hartford; Riggs and Tarwater.

The schools that improved to an A grade are Auxier, Hull, Navarette and Santan Junior High.

"Based on CUSD being a large district, variability of our student population, and cut scores, CUSD has always been at the threshold of the points between A/B," Ingersoll said. "We are in the same place again this year."

"It is important to note the scoring process is complex and uses multiple factors," she added. "As a district, CUSD is still doing well, but many schools and districts were not able to maintain the proficiency rate increases they saw in SY22-23."

Chandler Unified is the state's second largest school district, only behind Mesa Public Schools. It has about 43,000 students and 5,000 employees.

It has consistently been ranked as one of the top public school districts in the state, and has scored well above state and peer averages in most categories on the annual Auditor General's report on school performance.

CUSD students earned over $200 million in scholarships last year.

Five of the district's seven high schools received A grades this year. The other two, Chandler High and Chandler Online Academy, both received a B. The high schools earning an A are Arizona College Prep, Basha, Casteel, Hamilton and Perry.

No CUSD school was given a D or F grade.

The schools awarded a C are Andersen Elementary, Andersen Junior High, Galveston, Hartford and San Marcos.

All five are in or near the oldest part of the city, near downtown. All except Andersen Junior High offer free or reduced lunch programs to students whose families qualify based on their income level.

Other schools that offer free or reduced lunches to some of its student body fared better, but none received an A grade. Bologna, Conley, Frye, Sanborn and Shumway all earned B grades.