The recent release of school grades across North Carolina has added to the already intense debate about how school quality is measured. Those in favor of the new grading system argue that it gives parents, taxpayers and policymakers a simpler gauge of school effectiveness. Opponents say it’s a blunt approach that misses key factors that impact student learning.

At NC New Schools, we see examination of school quality as a means to help schools improve, whether a school is one that would receive an A or an F under the new grading system. When schools improve, we believe, students improve. It’s really that simple.

With that goal in mind, we’ve designed an assessment approach in which each school in our network assesses itself each year through the lens of six design principles that we promote as a strong foundation for high quality teaching and learning.

School staff work together to rate their progress on key indicators outlined in each design principle, which focus on key elements such as powerful teaching and learning, caring and respectful relationships among teachers and students, a climate that supports teachers’ own growth and development as educators, a clear focus on readiness for college and career. The results of that annual review are used to strengthen the instructional practice of teachers, the leadership by principals and school goals that target improved student outcomes. With a focus on the progress schools are making to achieve “best practices” proven by evidence, schools learn how to improve while also measuring how far they’ve come and how far they need to go.

We’ve now built on this annual self-assessment to create a new program to recognize innovation and academic excellence in keeping with our design principles. Our goal was simple, even if the process of defining a well-calibrated yardstick of school quality was a greater challenge. We recognize the importance of student performance in weighing school performance. To be eligible as a “School of Innovation and Excellence,” schools had to achieve certain thresholds for academic excellence. They had to show significant growth in student achievement, as measured by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction; college readiness above state averages as measured by the ACT; and a good showing on a third indicator keyed to an authentic assessment such as graduation projects or student portfolios or another measurement related to college and career readiness.

Schools meeting the performance criteria then received a closer look through the lens of what we call our “design principle progress review,” similar to a school’s annual self-assessment process, but with external reviewers conducting it. As with the self-assessment process, the review uses design principle indicators to guide schools towards effective practice according to a number of key dimensions, including:

• Quality of instructional practice
• Staff development and shared leadership
• College and career readiness
• Effective school design

With instructional practice, for example, schools are expected to follow an approach to teaching and learning that actively engages students. We believe, and research indicates, that’s how students learn best. Schools progress from a place where teachers tend to spend most of their time lecturing to a “new paradigm,” where students are reading, writing, thinking and talking in every classroom every day.

In looking at school quality, we believe it’s important to account for these kinds of factors that can influence student success – factors that indicate a school is making improvements that will lead to better outcomes over the long term.

The NC New Schools design principles don’t include standardized test scores or student achievement data as quality indicators. But progress in achieving those principles correlate with improved student outcomes, as demonstrated by student achievement data from many schools in our network. The four schools that we recognized last month as Schools of Innovation and Excellence all exceeded their goals for student academic growth, and they’re all making strong progress with the design principles.

All four schools also received A’s for school performance grades.