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How One Arizona School Is Dealing With Its Low Letter Grade

Students at Kino Junior High School
(Photo by Thomas Hawthorne - Arizona Republic)
Students at Kino Junior High School in Mesa.

Every year, schools across Arizona are assigned letter grades, from A to D, to tell us all how well they are performing.

It’s meant to be a measure of success for schools — but, what if you’re one of the schools on the bottom?

Lily Altavena, a reporter with the Arizona Republic, recently spent a week at Kino Junior High School in Mesa, one of the schools that got a D this year. Altavena explored how students, teachers and one very motivated principal are grappling with that bad grade. She joins The Show's Lauren Gilger to talk about it.

Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.