Alabama state officials have given state public schools an overall grade of 83, or a ‘B’ on an annual list of school performance. That’s down one point from last year.

They also have marked 206 individual schools with a ‘D’ or ‘F’ — and dramatically increased the number of students that are eligible to transfer to a different public or private school. The new policy will offer families the chance to transfer in the upcoming school year.

Despite the number of struggling schools and students, state officials said they believe the education system overall is improving after the pandemic.

“We are seeing the trend move in the right direction,” said State Superintendent Eric Mackey. “More schools doing better, fewer schools doing worse.”

Report cards are one way for parents and communities to get a look at what is happening learning-wise in their child’s school. Schools and districts are graded on test scores, how much students have improved test scores from the previous year, graduation rates, readiness indicators for graduates, chronic absenteeism among students, and English learner progress.

Board member Yvette Richardson asked which metrics lowered the state’s overall score.

“We will do a deeper dive,” Assistant State Superintendent Shanthia Washington said, “but in many cases what has occurred is that the graduation rate went down a little bit. It is worth 30 points.”

“I think COVID impacted quite a bit of that,” she said.

In some elementary schools, Washington said higher chronic absenteeism rates may have resulted in lower scores.

Some of the measures can be confusing – a ‘100′ in Academic Growth doesn’t necessarily mean that all children showed growth academically, for example – and parents should talk with their school’s principal if they have questions about what something on the report card means.

The way scores are calculated for state and federal purposes differs slightly. The federal score ended up being the same as the state – an 83, technically still a ‘B’, though letter grades aren’t given for the federal report card.

State report card

Details are not yet posted on the state Department of Education’s website.

State letter grades are calculated based on multiple indicators. A complete breakdown of how calculations are determined is on the report card website.

Follow AL.com’s Education Lab for more coverage.