SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah State Office of Education will release letter grades for all public schools in the state beginning Sept. 3.
The State Board of Education indicated a number of schools will get failing grades. The grades are determined by a combination of factors that include student improvement year-to-year, test scores, and graduation rates for the entire student body and within ethnic groups.
Associate Superintendent of Schools Judy Park, who is overseeing the grading process, said, "I think it's appropriate to say there were some concerns about some of the schools that indicated an F."
Park was referring to a meeting in which she showed a draft list of the school grades to Lt. Gov. Greg Bell and Senate President Wayne Niederhauser.
The state legislature mandated the school grades when they passed Senate Bill 271 in the 2013 General Session.
Some members of the Board of Education expressed concern that the grades are two simple and don't show the complex series of successes and failures present in any school.
