The state of Alabama released school report cards, grading each individual school and school system as it was in its 2016-2017 school year. Thankfully for the students of Bob Jones High School, the Madison City School district obtained an A, which is the highest letter grade any school or system can obtain. Only twelve other school districts in the whole of Alabama also got an A.

The scores for any Alabama school is calculated by judging five different scores, which are each weighted and changes the scores by a different amount each. The first value is overall academic achievement, which is determined by the amount of students who fit the academic standards set by the state. The second is academic growth, which is the percentage of students showing growth in math and reading. The third is graduation rate, the amount of high school students graduating after going through four or five years of high school. The fourth is college and career readiness, which is how many students meet the college and career readiness criteria. And the final value is chronic absenteeism, and it is the percent of students who have been absent for 15 days or more.

Madison City obtained an A in overall academic achievement, academic growth, and graduation rate. However, it got a B in college and career readiness and chronic absenteeism. These varying values come together to create an overall score of 95%.

Every single school in Madison City also got an A. The highest A is 99%, which is a tie between Columbia Elementary School, Heritage Elementary School, and Madison Elementary School. The lowest score is 90%, and it is tied between James Clemens High School and Bob Jones High School.

The report card system is the state of Alabama’s way of assessing schools, and it is purely for that. It does not affect funding from the state. It is more for parents to know how the school their children go to ranks, for taxpayers to know where their tax money is going, and for schools to know how they are doing. The five possible letter grades and school can get is an A, B, C, D, or F. An A is very good, while an F is failing. A C is an overall average school for the state.

Though this system works very well for Madison City Schools, many have pointed out problems with the system. One of the primary things that was pointed out was how chronic absenteeism was calculated. The report card does not discern between excused absences and unexcused. Someone who was home sick for fifteen days throughout the year would be treated the same as someone who skipped school for three weeks. “They [the school assessors] should be paying attention to what they do and differentiating between the people who actually can’t go and people who are skipping,” responded student Ella Waddell. 

Another part is about the overall academic achievement of the students, but just as with students, these grades do not reflect the totality and complexity of a school environment. About the issue, student Grace Hannah said, “Grades only show one part of a student. You can’t judge anything based solely off of them.”

Before the report cards were released, many people had fears that it would be bad for Alabama schools overall. To them, it feels as if it’s only labeling the schools. They also feel as if parents might be disappointed in the quality of their children’s school, perhaps not wanting their children to go to even an average-grade C school. However, student Sija Headrick explained, “What’s wrong with that? Parents want the best for their children. And if the [good] schools get too crowded, they’ll have to build another one. And if there’s not enough students in a school, the teachers can move.” 

In an email sent to every Madison City student, Superintendent Robby Parker wrote, “I am very pleased with the scores, but we won’t let the straight-A results lead to complacency. A school system is comprised of many parts so the credit goes to students, teachers, instructional teams, parents and all the support services that create such a positive environment. We welcome assessments any day. However, a letter grade is only a symbol. The true measure of our effectiveness is how well we are preparing our kids.”