Federal law does not require summative ratings like A-F to report school performance.
No standard method exists for calculating A-F ratings across states.
Since 2015, five states eliminated A-F rating systems due to oversimplification and federal compliance issues.
Since 2015, states are required to develop an accountability system that measures school performance (US Department of Education 2025, PL 114-95). State systems must measure achievement, student growth, graduation rates, English language proficiency, and one additional measure of school quality or student success (Erwin & Bloomquist 2024, Ushomirsky et al 2017).
Federal law requires states to rate these categories and make the rating publicly available but does not prescribe a rating system or require reporting of school rankings (US Department of Education 2019). Some states average category ratings into a summative A-F grade, star rating, or descriptive label (Sunderman 2022, Ushomirsky et al 2017). Eight states report both individual category ratings and overall A-F school ratings: AZ, FL, LA, MS, NC, OK, TN, and TX (Sunderman 2022, D’Brot et al 2020, The Hunt Institute 2019, Figure 1). IN paused A-F ratings in 2018 for a standardized test transition and will resume them in 2026-2027 (Public Law 231 2025).
States must also identify the lowest-performing 5% of schools with high pupil poverty rates (Title I) and schools with graduation rates under 67% for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) (Sunderman 2022, Ushomirsky et al 2017). States may use the same rating system for public reporting and CSI identification if the system meets federal requirements.
Figure 1. Current and Former Use of A-F School Rating Systems. Eight states currently use A-F ratings to report school performance (yellow): AZ, FL, LA, MS, NC, OK, TN, and TX. Four states eliminated A-F systems after implementation between 2019 and 2023 (blue): MI, NM, OH, and UT. VA (striped) repealed its A-F requirement in 2015 before implementation.
AZ, MS, and OK use point systems to rate each measure and combine points to calculate a summative A-F rating (OK State Department of Education 2026, AZ Department of Education (ADE) 2025, MS Department of Education 2025, ADE nd). In AZ, students attending D or F schools can receive state-funded tutoring (ADE 2026, ADE 2025).
FL and LA assign percentage scores to categories and average these to calculate A-F ratings (FL Department of Education 2025, LA Department of Education (LDE) nd). LA uses A-F ratings to identify CSI schools and requires CSI leadership teams to attend annual School Support Institutes to improve school performance (LDE 2024, Alliance for Excellent Education 2019, LDE nd).
NC, TN, and TX calculate A-F ratings using weighted formulas that combine scores across measures (NC Department of Public Instruction 2025, TX Education Agency 2025, TN Department of Education 2023). NC and TX assign percentage scores to each measure, while TN assigns performance levels (Level 1, 2, etc.).
Five states eliminated A-F rating systems between 2015 and 2023: MI, NM, OH, UT, and VA (Sunderman 2022). Four stopped using implemented systems. VA repealed its A-F requirement before implementation.
MI used A-F ratings from 2019 to 2023 (Public Act 34 2023, Public Act 601 2019). Because the A-F system did not include all required indicators for determining CSI schools, MI used both the A-F system and its prior point system to fulfill federal requirements (Carnell and Janzer 2023, Roesner et al 2023).
NM eliminated A-F ratings in 2019 following a district court ruling that the system did not accurately measure school effectiveness (School Support & Accountability Act 2019, Yazzie/Martinez v. State of NM 2018).
In 2022, OH stopped using A-F ratings after data showed that the scores did not accurately reflect performance in high-poverty districts (OH Revised Code 2025, Aldis 2021, Roush 2021). OH switched to a 1-5 star rating system with descriptors and trend arrows for added context.
UT eliminated A-F ratings in 2023 (HB 308 2023). The A-F system did not communicate which indicators were considered in the rating or provide context for an F rating (UT State Legislature 2023). UT switched to a dashboard-style report showing each performance indicator to increase transparency.
VA repealed its A-F requirement before implementation. The VA legislature required A-F ratings in 2013 and 2014 (VA Department of Education 2015, SB 497 2014). In 2014, the VA Board of Education found that A-F ratings could not represent complex school situations and repealed the requirement in 2015 (HB 1672 2015, SB 727 2015).
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