Numbers Of ‘F’ Schools Climbs As Grades Plummet

July 27, 2013

The highest number of Florida elementary and middle schools in at least a decade received “F” grades in the first draft of state report cards issued Friday, despite efforts by state officials to restrict how far grades could fall.

For a look at Escambia County school grades, click here.

In all, 107 elementary and middle schools — slightly more than 4 percent — received failing grades on the preliminary report cards. (The numbers also include “combination schools” and high schools that don’t have graduating classes.) In 2012, 40 schools got F grades, amounting to just more than 1.5 percent. The department graded 21 more schools this year.

That marked the highest number of schools to get an F at least since the program started including learning gains as part of the report card in 2002. And it came despite the State Board of Education agreeing to extend by a year a rule preventing schools from dropping more than one letter grade on the report cards.

But without the changes, officials said, 261 schools would have received failing grades.

The Board of Education changes were made after local superintendents warned of a looming collapse in school grades and said there were so many changes to the accountability system that it made it impossible to figure out what might be causing the upheaval.

The state has continued to ratchet up its expectations as it moves toward the nationwide “common core” standards, set to be completely implemented by the 2014-15 school year, and Education Commissioner Tony Bennett said he expected the “volatility” in grades to continue over the next three to five years.

“This is exactly why I made the recommendations I made to the board,” he said.

In addition to the increase in schools with failing grades, the number of “A” schools dramatically declined, from 1,242 schools in 2012 to 760 in 2013. That marked a drop of 19 percentage points in the share of schools that received the highest mark.

The Florida Education Association, the main state teachers union, responded to the report cards by blasting the grading system Friday.

“The constantly changing measures the Florida DOE uses in grading schools renders them meaningless as a comparison of school progress,” FEA President Andy Ford said. ” … This system is flawed and does not reflect rising student achievement and the dedicated and caring efforts by our public school teachers and other school employees to provide our children with a high quality education.”

Patricia Levesque, executive director of former Gov. Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Florida’s Future, said the drop in grades was not surprising given the increase in standards.

“The progress we have made, moving from near the bottom to above the national average in rankings, will not continue if we don’t ensure children are moving forward each and every year,” she said. “These grades are a wakeup call that we have to do much better for our students.”

High school grades, which are released later, will probably be issued in the winter, Bennett said.

For a look at Escambia County school grades, click here.

by The News Service of Florida

Comments

2 Responses to “Numbers Of ‘F’ Schools Climbs As Grades Plummet”

  1. Dedicated Teacher on July 29th, 2013 10:55 pm

    Students and teachers are smart and working harder than ever. When school grades are published, they really do us all a disservice, because our students are tested by the state using tests that don’t cover what we have taught, but totally different and irrelevant information. The tests change every year and it is impossible to know what’s on them to teach it, although we work hard to try. New accountability measures are necessary, created by EDUCATORS and not POLITICIANS.

  2. Melodies4us on July 27th, 2013 8:02 am

    They’re are many reasons the schools are failing. The 3 top reasons on the list are: most parents are not helping their children learn at home , the achievers should be in a classroom of their own because children need to be challenged according to their ability, too much cramming / rushing of the students that have normal academic ability , and finally there needs to be a balance between work and play because creative free play is necessary for good mental health.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News