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First School Grades Released Using SAGE Scores

Grades evaluating the performance of Utah schools were released today, but they won’t be all that useful to parents who want to compare the results to last year. This year’s grades were calculated based on SAGE, the states’ new year-end student assessment.

With school grading, individual schools are assigned a letter grade A through F based on a combination of graduation rates, student growth and student performance on year-end assessments. Last spring, SAGE or Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence replaced the Criterion Reference Test students take every year. It’s computer adaptive and based on more rigorous standards. Associate Superintendent Judy Park says knowing student scores would be lower this year, the state graded schools on a curve to take that into account. Because of that, she says this year’s school grades look a lot like last years with a few exceptions.

“What I would hope is that parents and the public take this opportunity to learn more about their schools, to get on the website and look at the PACE reports, look at school grading,” Park says. “It’s just an opportunity for them to see lots of information and know more about what’s happening in their schools and look for ways that they can support and help their schools to be a better place.”

Each school’s grade has been posted on the data gateway of the Utah State Office of Education website.

The second round of SAGE test results will be released this spring. 

Whittney Evans grew up southern Ohio and has worked in public radio since 2005. She has a communications degree from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, where she learned the ropes of reporting, producing and hosting. Whittney moved to Utah in 2009 where she became a reporter, producer and morning host at KCPW. Her reporting ranges from the hyper-local issues affecting Salt Lake City residents, to state-wide issues of national interest. Outside of work, she enjoys playing the guitar and getting to know the breathtaking landscape of the Mountain West.
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