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Utah students failed the new SAGE test in large numbers, but most schools can count on getting either an "A" or "B" when grades are released next month.

Individual school grades will vary. But the combined total will end up with roughly 12 percent of Utah schools receiving an "A" grade, 46 percent getting a "B" grade, 30 percent receiving a "C" grade, 10 percent earning a "D" grade and 2 percent getting an "F" grade.

The constantly shifting formula for calculating school grades has been changed once again to account for the introduction of a brand new year-end testing system.

State education leaders developed a sort of modified bell curve based on schools' previous grades.

"The decision is that school grades will have the same distribution of grades this year that we had last year," Associate State Superintendent Judy Park said.

School grades are based on a calculation that awards points for the number of students testing proficiently on year-end tests, the number of students who improved on year-end tests since the previous year, high school graduation rates and ACT scores.

Last spring, students took the computer-adaptive SAGE test, which is built around college- and career-readiness standards. The higher expectations of the test resulted in a sharp decline in the number of students meeting grade-level expectations compared to the old Criterion-Referenced Test.

If left unchanged, the school grading formula would have registered the drop in proficiency rates as negative performance growth, resulting in a "D" or "F" grade for virtually every school in the state.

"I think the (state school) board's position was they didn't want to send a false message to the public that schools had dramatically changed in one year," Park said.

Grades from the controversial school accountability sytem were issued for the first time last year. New grades for 2014 are expected to be released in December.

"We're still in the process of calculating them and we're very hopeful that we'll have them out by Dec. 15," Park said.

The state school board's decision to maintain last year's breakdown was approved by state lawmakers, who first passed the school grading law in 2011.

The law has undergone several revisions, including changes last year that exempted newly created and alternative high schools from grading, and removed the automatic "F" penalty for low test participation. Educators have largely objected to the use of a single letter grade to measure school performance, and Gov. Gary Herbert has proposed replacing the grading system with a report card that supplements testing data with contextual information like school demographics and college-level coursework.

Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, who sponsored the original school grade legislation, said lawmakers are open to ideas that provide parents with more information. But legislators would resist efforts to do away with the letter grades for schools.

"The grade, I believe, is here to stay," he said.

Niederhauser said this year's tweaked grade distribution is necessary for a transition year. But after that transition is complete, schools will receive the grades they deserve, which potentially could mean "A" grades across the board.

"It won't be (graded on) a curve," he said. "Anybody who has the results can get the grade."

Park said this year's SAGE results will provide a baseline moving forward for measuring student growth in the original calculation method. But, she added, lawmakers could change the calculation in future legislative sessions.

"There has been a bill on school grading that has passed every year now for several years, so stay tuned," she said.

bwood@sltrib.com 2013 Salt Lake County High School Grades

Canyons School District

Alta High Grade • C; Graduation rate: 90

Brighton High Grade • C; Graduation rate: 89

Hillcrest High Grade • C; Graduation rate: 73

Entrada Grade • Not available; Graduation rate: 24

Jordan High Grade • C; Graduation rate: 81

District graduation rate • 80

Granite School District

Cottonwood High Grade • D; Graduation rate: 77

Cyprus High Grade • D; Graduation rate: 71

Granger High Grade • D; Graduation rate: 64

Hunter High Grade • D; Graduation rate: 81

Kearns High Grade • F; Graduation rate: 67

Olympus High Grade • C; Graduation rate: 90

Skyline High Grade • B; Graduation rate: 95

Taylorsville High Grade • D; Graduation rate: 82

Granite Peaks Grade • F; Graduation rate: 20

District graduation rate • 68

Jordan School District

Copper Hills High Grade • C Graduation rate: 88

Bingham High Grade • C Graduation rate: 93

Riverton High Grade • C Graduation rate: 87

Valley High Grade • D Graduation rate:62

West Jordan High Grade • D Graduation rate: 74

Herriman High Grade • C Graduation rate: 88

District graduation rate • 83

Murray School District

Murray High Grade • B Graduation rate: 84 percent

Salt Lake City School District

East High School Grade • D Graduation rate: 75 percent

Highland High School Grade • D Graduation rate: 79

Horizonte Instr & Trn Ctr Grade • F Graduation rate: 37

West High School Grade • F Graduation rate: 72

District graduation rate • 65

Source: Utah State Office of Education