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Dept. Of Ed Releases High School Accountability Grades

School accountability grades were released Wednesday for Florida’s high schools, and they were good news for most North Escambia area schools.

Northview, Tate, Washington and Pensacola high schools all maintained their B grades from last year, while West Florida High School remained an A school for sixth consecutive year. Two Escambia County schools — Escambia and Pine Forest — showed improvement from a D last year to a C grade.

Every high school in Santa Rosa County earned a B — with Jay, Milton, Pace and Gulf Breeze falling from A grades last year.

“We are disappointed that we incurred a penalty.  However, we are very excited about the continuous effort and performance of our Aggie family.  With immeasurable support from the parents and community, our students and staff have had an incredible year.  We will review the current data making necessary adjustments to provide our students with the best opportunity to be successful,” Tate High School Principal Rick Shackle said.

“We are ecstatic about our School Grade, knowing that we really were an “A,” without penalty for drop in At-Risk Graduation Rate,” Northview Principal Gayle Weaver said. “The teachers and staff have worked extremely hard to accomplish our goals.  Our total points, FCAT Points and High School Component Points combined, increased 180 points above 2010 points. That improvement is twice as much as any other high school in our district

“Right now, we are just basking in the fact that we had total points to be an “A,” and we will begin to look into why our At-Rick Graduation Rate declined.   I encourage  parents to view this accumulation of points as a validation of the hard work that has been done by their students and the entire NHS faculty and staff.  It is truly a team effort,” Weaver said.

Statewide results from the Florida Department of Education showed that 78 percent of the state’s high school earned either an A or B grade, up from 71 percent last year.

The expanded high school grading system, first used for the 2009-10 school year, focuses on a broader set of student outcomes, including graduation rates and student participation and performance in advanced coursework. The high school grade is earned based on two major elements: 50 percent from the performance of each school’s students on the FCAT, and 50 percent from factors that include the following:

• The school’s graduation rate.
• The performance and participation of students in Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Dual Enrollment, Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE), and industry certification.
• The postsecondary readiness of high-achieving students as measured by the SAT, ACT, or College Placement Test (CPT).
• The high school graduation rate of at-risk students.

Statewide, the greatest average increase in high school grade component points earned in 2010-11 was for student performance on accelerated coursework measured by AP, IB, AICE and industry certification examinations, as well as dual enrollment courses.