Schools across the state will need to reach a higher standard to receive an "A" letter grade after the Arizona State Board of Education approved a new scoring system on Sept. 28 that will be reflected in grades that come out in October 2027.
Federal law requires states to measure school performance, and Arizona law mandates the A-F letter grade system.
The letter grades are released annually as an indicator of school performance, with schools receiving "A" grades described as excellent, "B" schools described as highly performing, "C" schools described as adequately performing, "D" schools described as minimally performing and "F" schools described as failing, according to the board.
In June, the state auditor general recommended the board and the Arizona
Department of Education change the letter grade system after reporting that over half of all public high schools received an A grade in 2025 and 41% received a B. The report also found that 75% of public K-8 schools received an A or B.
Sean Ross, executive director for the board, said the COVID-19 epidemic resulted in lower test scores for students, which led to a lower threshold needed to receive a high score and the current grade inflation.
The board uses statewide assessments — general proficiency and growth, English language learner proficiency and growth, attendance and graduation rates — to determine a school's performance. Schools receive a failing grade if they have systematic failures in these areas, have a graduation rate below 67% or perform in the bottom 5% of the state.
These measures are submitted to the Arizona Department of Education and the State Board of Education sets "cut scores" — the number of points required for each letter grade.
The auditor general said some schools that received high letter grades did not appear to meet the necessary requirements to do so. The report also found that bonus points, which award extra credit to schools based on factors such as a larger percentage of special education students or high graduation rates for vulnerable student groups, potentially inflated schools' letter grades.
The board approved removing bonus points entirely in August. Sean Smith, chief accountability officer for the Arizona Department of Education, said the additional changes to cut scores could result in more schools receiving D and F scores in the future.
How the new standards may affect 2027 letter grades
The board introduced a new scoring system that will provide individual letter grades for proficiency and growth indicators in addition to the overall letter grade. These two metrics account for 80% of a K-8 school's letter grade and 50% of a high school's summative letter grade.
Ross said growth and proficiency are the dominant accountability measures for a school’s letter grade and will set the tone for the entire system. The board is scheduled to make adjustments to the remaining indicators at an October meeting.
For proficiency, which is measured using state assessment scores, roughly 37% of students in third to eighth grades currently pass state assessments. The board voted to require a school reach a 40.97% passing rate in order to receive an "A" letter grade.
For high schools, the current passing rate is 35.4% The board approved a required 37% passing rate to receive an "A" letter grade in proficiency.
In addition to the passing rate, schools are measured on how much that rate increases year over year, which is labeled as "growth." The current rate increase for third to eighth grade students is 0.3%. The board voted to increase that by 1.6 percentage points, or roughly six times, to receive an A letter grade in growth for a 1.9% total growth rate.
For high schools, the board approved an increase of 1.39 percentage points, or roughly twice the current rate, to receive an A letter grade in growth for a 2.49% total growth rate.
According to board documents, the change could result in the number of K-8 schools that receive an A letter grade to decrease from 35% to 30% and the number of high schools from 53% to 31%, taking into account the removal of bonus points as well.
The board was also given the option to increase the accountability measures further for future years. Members rejected the motion, citing concerns on not having sufficient information or understanding the changes’ impact.
Board member Jason Catanese said schools were being asked to make a lot of adjustments at once following recent board decisions, which could impact students.
“These different labels do strongly influence the confidence of a whole population of students and families and what they believe to be true about a school,” he said.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who expressed interest in more robust changes, said he supported the idea of splitting the letter grades to produce separate growth and proficiency scores, instead of the summative letter grade system in effect today.
Coverage of education solutions on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is partially supported by a grant from the Arizona Local News Foundation’s Arizona Community Collaborative Fund.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Getting an 'A' grade will be harder for Arizona schools. Here's why
