Rebecca Holmes: What Is School Quality, and Who Decides? We’re Bringing Together Educators, Families and Students for This Vital Discussion

By Rebecca Holmes

The past few weeks have been a busy and conflicted time in Colorado around questions of school quality. As our state board voted to raise the “cut score” for elementary and middle school performance ratings by 8 percentage points, establishing a higher bar for schools across Colorado to achieve success, the state Department of Education is preparing to release guidance for a new pilot project for local accountability systems to supplement state rankings. That pilot will likely be, in part, inspired by similar work unfolding in Massachusetts, Texas and California.