Teaching penalty: Tom Horne wants school letter grades to account for critical race theory

Superintendent Tom Horne’s office is crafting a proposal to change the A-F school grading formula to reflect whether schools take part in values-based teaching standards — as defined by the Horne administration.

If successful, that means the next round of school letter grades could penalize Arizona schools for allegedly teaching topics like critical race theory — the application of which in K-12 education is ill-defined and under dispute — or using recently controversial educational approaches like social and emotional learning.

The proposal, which the administration plans to present formally in mid-April, would have to be adopted by the Arizona State Board of Education. Horne is a member of the State Board.

“I stand for the philosophy that individuals are primary and race is irrelevant,” said Horne, a Republican. He expects school conversations on race and identity to follow this format, he said.

Horne said his team is still developing a plan for how to best collect information on what schools are teaching and how to include that in the letter grade formula, he said.

Other current state board members, all of whom are appointees of former Gov. Doug Ducey, declined to comment through Sean Ross, executive director of the Arizona State Board of Education.

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State and federal law require a measure of school performance that is comparable across schools. The current formula is a snapshot of assessment test scores, student learning growth from year to year, the preparation level of middle and elementary school students for the next grade and high school graduation rates.

The state board and Arizona Department of Education approved a five-year accountability plan on school letter grades last year, which includes the option to regularly review the standards defining the number of points required for a school to earn an A, B, C or D, also known as a “cut score.”