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A bill that would give Utah schools letter grades based on their performance earned preliminary approval from the Senate on Friday — but not before the bill's sponsor made significant changes to it.

SB59 would assign schools grades of A, B, C, D and F based on students' proficiency and progress in language arts, math, science and writing, and, in high schools, their graduation rates and measures of college and career readiness. But the version of the bill the Senate approved Friday evening includes some major changes based on feedback from education leaders, said bill sponsor Sen. Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy.

For one, grades likely wouldn't be handed out until August 2012. For this school year, the state Office of Education would model how the grading would work and then suggest changes. The new version also would not grade schools on any sort of a curve as an earlier version would have done.

Also, part of a school's grade would be based on progress of students who are not proficient, whereas an earlier version based part of a school's grade on progress of the school's bottom performing 25 percent of students.

Bill supporters say grading schools, as Florida does, will make school performance more transparent. Opponents, however, have said assigning one grade per school is too simplistic. They also worry about penalizing schools in poor areas, and about assigning schools poor letter grades without giving them additional help.

Sen. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, noting Utah's large class sizes, said "it's very demeaning to many teachers to be graded on something they really have no control over."

Niederhauser said modifications can be made based on the state board's modeling.

Debra Roberts, state school board chairwoman, said the board appreciates Niederhauser's efforts to work with it on the idea, but the board still has some concerns. The board hasn't taken a formal position and was split during a vote Friday on whether to support it.

The Senate approved the bill 18-8 and would have to vote in favor of it one more time before it could move to the House.