Public Notice: To provide parents and the general public with information on how AZ schools are performing Accountability: To identify schools that are struggling so that action can be taken to improve student learning

Presently, all AZ schools are labeled as either: Excelling Highly Performing Performing / Performing Plus Underperforming Failing This school year AZ will begin to transition to an A, B, C, D and F labeling system.

Method of calculating school labels will also change: Growth Score 50%Other Achievement Data 50%

Growth (50% of calculation) o Measurement of how much students have improved during the school year (measured by AIMS scores) o Places greater emphasis on the improvement of students performing in the bottom quartile Other Achievement Data (50% of calculation) o Includes several elements but relies heavily on the percentage of students that pass AIMS

AA schools earn points equal to a school that has 90% of students passing AIMS and achieves typical or greater growth with its population of students. BB schools earn points equal to a school that has 70% of students passing AIMS and achieves typical or greater growth with its population of students. CC schools earn points equal to a school that has 50% of students passing AIMS and achieves typical or greater growth with its population of students. DD schools earn less points than a school that has 50% of students passing AIMS and achieves typical or greater growth with its population of students. FA school that receives the equivalent of a D for three consecutive years shall receive an F label.

Because the method of calculating labels will change we can expect some variance between the old labels and the new. For example, a school that was labeled excelling under the existing system may be labeled a B under the new system. To give schools time to adjust to the new labels AZ law provides for a two year transition period. For the next two years schools will receive both the traditional label (excelling, highly performing, etc.) and the new label (A – F). During this time the State will enforce the traditional labels (excelling, highly performing, etc.) Beginning in 2013 AZ will only utilize the A-F labels.