Most of the traditional high schools in Salt Lake County have improved since the last time the state issued letter grades.
The Utah State Board of Education released its annual school report cards Tuesday for the 2021-22 school year. And it’s the first time in five years — since the 2016-17 school year — that they included scores of A through F for how well a school is doing.
There had been interruptions to grading during the pandemic, and the state temporarily tested out a different system without letter grades. But now that it has returned to the standard model, The Salt Lake Tribune has analyzed the high schools in Salt Lake County.
Of the 22 traditional high schools here, 18 received a higher letter than five years ago.
One dipped slightly, with Riverton High receiving a B in 2017 and a C for 2022. Three remained the same: Brighton High, Hunter High and and Taylorsville High.
The grades are based on student achievement on standardized tests, the growth of their proficiency on those, how much English learners improved and how well students are prepared for college.
Below is a list of the new grades of the Salt Lake County high schools, with their rankings for grades for 2017 for comparison. [Read more: 7 takeaways from the new report card for Utah schools and students]
A searchable list for all public K-12 schools and charters in the entire state can also be found at utahschoolgrades.schools.utah.gov.
Canyons School District
Alta High • A in 2022. B in 2017.
Brighton High • B in 2022. B in 2017.
Corner Canyon High • A in 2022. B in 2017.
Hillcrest High • B in 2022. D in 2017.
Jordan High • B in 2022. D in 2017.
Granite School District
Cottonwood High • C in 2022. F in 2017.
Cyprus High • C in 2022. D in 2017.
Granger High • D in 2022. F in 2017.
Hunter High • C in 2022. C in 2017.
Kearns High • D in 2022. F in 2017.
Olympus High • A in 2022. B in 2017.
Skyline High • A in 2022. B in 2017.
Taylorsville High • C in 2022. C in 2017.
Jordan School District
Bingham High • B in 2022. C in 2017.
Copper Hills High • C in 2022. D in 2017.
Herriman High • C in 2022. F in 2017.
Riverton High • C in 2022. B in 2017.
West Jordan High • C in 2022. F in 2017.
Murray School District
Murray High • B in 2022. F in 2017.
Salt Lake City School District
East High School • C in 2022. F in 2017.
Highland High School • B in 2022. C in 2017.
West High School • B in 2022. C in 2017.
THE CHALLENGES OF COMPARING PAST AND NEW UTAH SCORES
It’s difficult to compare this year’s overall school grades to previous years — because Utah has changed its school grading system repeatedly since the 2016-17 academic year. That was the last year schools got letter grades until they resumed for 2021-22.
Here’s what happened in between:
• For 2017-18, lawmakers allowed the Utah Board of Education to try a new system. In four categories, schools were given marks of exemplary, commendable, typical, developing or critical needs. The categories were achievement, growth, proficiency of English language learners and college readiness.
• For 2018-19, the state used the alternate marks again after glitches in the administration of year-end exams.
• For 2019-20, there were no school grades because year-end exams were canceled due to the pandemic.
• In the 2020-21 school year, year-end exams were given but school grades were not — because they are based, in part, on growth from the previous year, for which there was no data.
• For 2021-22, school grades returned for individual schools while school districts continued to receive the alternative marks.
