The annual accountability reports that rate each of the state's public schools would be scrapped under a bill to be introduced as early as this morning in the Senate.

Instead, parents and other citizens would have access online to data the state education department uses to evaluate schools and school districts.

"The accountability system will be the accreditation system," said Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Arvada. She is cosponsoring the bill with Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs. Both have extensive backgrounds in education policy.

Under the current system, schools are given one of five ratings - excellent, high, average, low or unsatisfactory - on school report cards issued each December and sent to parents by mail. The ratings are based primarily on how students score on statewide achievement tests.

Separately, the education department evaluates school districts to determine whether they should be accredited.

The Hudak-King proposal scraps the one-word designations. Instead, parents would be able to see whether their children's schools are accredited at the highest level - and what work is needed if they are in one of several substandard categories.

Educators disliked the one-word ratings of schools. They complained that it stigmatized teachers struggling with hard-to-teach children, particularly those from disadvantaged families.

The new system addresses that objection by incorporating the statistical model the education department uses to determine whether failing students in a particular district are catching up with their peers.

"What we're trying to do is take away a punitive aspect of rating schools (and go) to more of an incentive aspect of rating schools," King said.

In addition to test scores, the new system will reflect such factors as drop-out rates and graduation rates.

On the accreditation side, the Colorado Board of Education would be required to set targets for school districts to meet, both in test scores and other areas. Parents will see whether those targets are met.

Bruce Caughey of the Colorado Association of School Executives, the group that includes superintendents, said the system Hudak and King propose is "a step up." Caughey said parents will get a far more accurate picture of their kids' schools.