Suggestion for board

While I understand the concerns raised by members of the Wake County school board concerning the state’s efforts to assign schools a letter grade, I suggest that they do something constructive about it.

One option would be to implement a competing grading system for their own schools. I would suggest something that measures the value added by a given school through the improvement of a given class from year to year. This could even be weighted by the average household income of the population served.

If letter grades are used, they could be based on the number of standard deviations from the norm. By grading on a curve, approximately 68 percent could get a C and 27 percent could get either a B or a D. This would mean that only the outstanding examples get an A or an F, thus saving the public shaming and accolades for those who truly deserve them.

In any case, the school district is ultimately responsible for tracking and managing the performance of our schools, and such information should be made publicly available so that the school board can be held accountable.

Corey Cavalier

Raleigh