Annual grades fall sharply for Florida schools

The number of top-rated schools in Florida is falling sharply.

The Department of Education on Friday released new A to F grades for many of the state's public schools.

The grades showed that the number of A-rated schools fell nearly 39 percent this year, while the number of F-rated schools more than doubled.

The number of F-rated schools could have been much higher. Earlier this month, the State Board of Education voted by a 4-3 margin to tweak the formula that allowed as many as 150 schools to avoid getting an F grade.

The decision to change the grading standards was done over the protest of some officials who said the move would confuse parents and mask the true performance of many schools.

The following school districts received an F rating:

• Hamilton County
• Jefferson County
• Madison County
• Florida School for the Deaf and Blind
  

Central Florida school district statements:

Lake

The Florida Department of Education released preliminary school grades today for the 2012-2013 school year for elementary and middle schools.

The number of high-performing schools receiving an “A” or “B” grade has decreased across the state by about 16 percentage points. The percentage of Lake County Schools receiving an “A” or “B” grades (50 percent) reflect the statewide average (55 percent). Lake County schools earning an “A” or “B” grade include:

Astatula Elementary (B)
Clermont Middle (B)
Cypress Ridge Elementary (A)
East Ridge Middle (B)
Eustis Elementary (B)
Gray Middle (B)
Grassy Lake Elementary (B)
Groveland Elementary (B)
Imagine South Lake Charter (B)
Lost Lake Elementary (B)
Pine Ridge Elementary (B)
Round Lake Charter Elem. (B)
Sawgrass Bay Elementary (B)
Seminole Springs Elementary (B)
Sorrento Elementary (B)
Umatilla Elementary (A)
Villages Elementary (B)
Windy Hill Middle (B)

The Florida State Board of Education has again increased accountability standards this year by issuing more tests, making it more difficult for students to pass some exams and raising the bar for earning top school grades. Because of the numerous changes in the school grading criteria, there are fewer “A” and “B” rated schools and more “C,” “D” and “F” rated schools statewide.

“The drop in grades is a result of increased expectations and standards,” said Dr. Susan Moxley, Superintendent of Lake County Schools. “It’s disappointing for our schools, teachers and students. Schools made progress in various areas and many students saw increases in their performance, unfortunately those successes are not reflected in school grades as numerous changes were made to the grading formula. I commend our teachers, administrators and students for their hard work over the past year and their commitment to increasing student performance.”

Some of the grading changes implemented this year in the state’s nuanced grading system include:

• Include English Language Learners who have been in a U.S. school for 365 days
• Include ESE student performance on Florida Alternate Assessment (FAA)
• Middle school acceleration component based on high-school end-of-course exams
• Increased student performance expectations for FCAT 2.0 Reading and Math
• New Achievement Level cut scores for FCAT 2.0 Science, Biology 1 and Geometry EOCs
• Writing proficiency increase from 3.0 to 3.5
• New reading performance penalty
  

Grades for high schools will be released in the fall as additional components are included in grade calculations.

Orange

The state Department of Education released school grades for elementary and middle schools. In Orange County, nearly 60 percent of our schools are high-performing earning grades of “A” or “B.” Statewide the percentage is nearly 55 percent.

We have 48 schools maintaining their grade of “A” from 2012. Three schools – Azalea Park Elementary, Dillard St. Elementary, and Ocoee Middle all moved to an “A” from a grade of “B.”

Regarding “D” or “F”- rated schools, Orange County has 13 percent falling into that category. The state has 17 percent.

Wheatley Elementary elevated to a “D” this year from the 2012 grade of “F.” Students at Wheatley upped their proficiency in Reading, Math, and Science by 10 percentage points in each category.

We have no schools on the state’s list of 100 lowest-performing. In 2012, six schools were in that category.

Three rated “F” are Cypress Park, Mollie Ray, and Palmetto elementary schools.

Osceola

• 23, or 57.5%, of Osceola schools maintained or showed an increase in their school grades. The state's average of increase was 47%.
• The Osceola School District has a higher percentage of A and B schools at 56%, compared to the state average of 55%.
• 53% of the schools in the state saw a decrease in their letter grade from last year to this year, as compared to 42.5%, or 17 schools, in Osceola.
• Osceola's two district schools that earned a D in 2012 successfully raised their school letter grade to a C.
• Comparison of Osceola's results to the state's overall performance from last year to this year:
• The state decreased the percentage of A schools by 19%, while Osceola decreased by 15.5%.
• The state increased the percentage of B schools by 3%, while Osceola decreased by 3.5%.
• The state increased the percentage of C schools by 9%, while Osceola increased by 19%.
• The state increased the percentage of D schools by 5%, while Osceola's percentage remained the same.
• The state increased the percentage of F schools by 2%, while Osceola's percentage remained the same with no F schools.

There were a number of changes to the state's accountability system this year that impacted the results. Declines were anticipated due to the rapid transition the state has made to more rigorous assessments and higher accountability standards.

"We recognize that there was a drop in school letter grades this year in Osceola and across the state," said Superintendent Melba Luciano. "We have put in place targeted instructional and assessment programs that will allow us to monitor our students' progress more frequently. In addition, we have implemented a stronger professional development program to support those initiatives. We will continue to work diligently towards the vision of having our students outperform all others in the state of Florida."

Results for Osceola's high schools are still pending the release of the second half of their school grades. The district’s overall letter grade will be released at a later date.

Seminole

Seminole County School District maintained its “A” rating in 2013, according to the Florida Department of Education’s release of preliminary district grades. Under the state’s tough new FCAT standards, SCPS continued its stellar record of high achievement in the annual assessment of elementary and middle schools.

The district, which has achieved the top score every year since the assessments began, remained among only five districts statewide to receive an “A” rating in 2013. In contrast, 17 districts received an “A” score in 2012, reflecting this year’s tougher standards. SCPS is the only district in Central Florida and among the 17 largest Florida districts to earn an “A” district rating.

What’s more, Seminole County continued to be the top-rated school district among the state’s 17 largest school districts in three of the four categories, reading, math and science, rated by FCAT.

“While the latest FCAT scores reflect drops in ratings for many schools statewide, we are focusing on how we compare to our peers,” said Seminole Schools Superintendent Dr. Walt Griffin. “We continued our top rating in reading, math and science among the 17 largest districts. Our FCAT scores reflect the higher standards in accountability and not a weaker performance by our students.”

The tougher standards led to the number of F-rated schools more than doubling statewide, yet Seminole continued its record or never having an F-rate school.

“We will be examining closely where we improved and declined for each of our schools, and work diligently to improve our scores,” Griffin said. “We have always been at or near the top in FCAT scores, and we intend to keep it that way.”

Results of the 2013 SAT scores are anticipated to be available within the next month. For 2012, as in past years, Seminole County seniors outscored students both statewide and nationally. The district’s mean SAT score was 1548 in 2012, up 8 points from 2011. Statewide and national mean scores were 1460 and 1498 respectively.

Volusia

The Florida Department of Education has released the 2013 school grades for Elementary and Middle Schools.

In 2012, there were several changes to the Florida School Accountability System including new assessment standards and new calculations. The State Board of Education allowed an adjustment of grades to prevent a school from dropping more than one letter grade from the 2011 grade earned.

For 2013, the Commissioner and the State Board of Education agreed to continue with the ‘no more than one letter grade drop’ as schools and districts transition to the changing accountability standards. Changes were also made to the Exceptional Student Education Center grade calculations.

Additional adjustments made to the school grade calculations include the following:

• Increasing the writing standard from 3.0 to 3.5
• A one letter grade reduction for schools with fewer than 50% of their lowest quartile scoring at a level 3 or above in reading
• Implementation of new achievement level standards for FCAT 2.0 Science, Biology End-of-Course (EOC) Assessment, and Geometry EOC
• Inclusion of the Geometry and Biology EOC assessments as part of the accelerated coursework for middle schools
• Inclusion of the Algebra I EOC results in determining the lowest quartile for math
• Industry Certifications as part of the middle school grade acceleration criteria
• Inclusion of only standard diploma in graduation rate calculations.
  

In light of these changes, longitudinal trend analysis, year to year comparison of school grades, is complex. As expected, there were statewide decreases in school grades. Therefore, a conclusion about the correlation between school grades and student achievement should be done in the context of the above referenced adjustments.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.