The late Lewis Grizzard, a noted southern writer/humorist once authored a book entitled, Shoot Low Boys! They’re Riding Shetland Ponies. The premise of the title was that if you are planning to shoot at something, it is very beneficial to know where your aim should be.

The revised state accountability model requires school administrators and faculty members to “shoot at a moving target” over the next four years to achieve their school rating, as the “pony will grow taller” each year.

The new model will assign individual schools and districts a narrative rating instead of a number rating. Schools will now be classified as one of seven labels: Star School, High Performing, Successful, Academic Watch, Low Performing, At-Risk of Failing and Failing. The labels, which are expected to be made public in November, are determined by the meshing of three components: graduation rate, rate of academic growth, and QDI. A Quality of Distribution Index (QDI) is assigned to each school by utilizing a formula that assigns different values to the total number of advanced, proficient, basic and minimal scores on the various state tests. Simply stated, advanced scores count three times, proficient scores count twice, basic scores count once and minimal scores count zero times.

Therefore, the more advanced, proficient, and basic scores a particular district has, the higher its QDI will be.

The QDI is also where the “moving target” comes into play. For instance, if a district has a QDI of 166, a graduation rate of 75%, and displays “appropriate growth” for the ’08 -’09 school year , that district will receive a “high performing” rating. During the 2009-2010 school year though, this same district might improve its QDI to 175, increase its graduation rate to 80% and display “outstanding growth.” This district will obviously move up a rating label, right???

Not so fast! This school will actually fall one level from “high performing” to “successful” due to a sliding scale for QDI that calls for constant improvement over the next four years. The district will then be left to devise a suitable explanation to John Q. Public of how a “high performing” school in ’08-‘09 dropped one rating level to “successful” in ’09 – ‘10, even though it actually improved its test scores and other academic indicators. I’m afraid that may be a “hard sell” for our schools to make.

One thing is certain concerning our new accountability system. Ratings will be negatively impacted for the majority of the districts in MS. According to one MDE prediction, only 1% of the districts statewide are predicted to be labeled as “star.” Only 12% of districts will be “high performing,” while approximately 26% will be “successful.” This means that 61% of the districts statewide will be labeled somewhere between “academic watch” and “failing.” I offer these predicted percentages in an effort to increase the understanding and awareness within our communities concerning the new accountability system, while urging all stakeholders to assist your specific area district as everyone works through these first years of a highly demanding new system. I assure you that all of our local districts are working diligently to ensure your children are afforded the education they deserve, while we simultaneously search for successful ways to improve our schools and ratings.



Scott Cantrell is Superintendent of Education of the Monroe County School District