Is it fair for the state to rate public schools only as high as their lowest score among several performance categories?

PBN Staff

01/12/2024

CLASSICAL HIGH SCHOOL in Providence had six of its seven performance metrics receive between four and five stars in 2023. But the lone low score for English language proficiency netted the school the overall 2-star rating. / COURTESY CLASSICAL HIGH SCHOOL — CLASSICAL HIGH SCHOOL in Providence had six of its seven performance metrics receive between four and five stars in 2023. But the lone low score for English language proficiency netted the school the overall two-star rating. / COURTESY CLASSICAL HIGH SCHOOL

The state on Jan. 8 released its 2023 school accountability and improvement results, with about a 50-50 spit on schools that are performing at a high level and those that are not.

The most surprising rating on a scale of one to five stars was for Providence’s Classical High School, which received a two-star rating. It was the city’s lone four-star rated school last year and had five-star ratings in 2018 and 2019. Classical’s rating dropped because of a low score on English language proficiency.

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In previous years, Classical didn’t have enough students to qualify for performance measurement in that category.

Since the state rates public schools only as high as their lowest score, Classical’s overall score dropped to a low-performing level, though the rest of its category ratings were all strong.