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Schools get best ever FCAT grades

Written by Dr. Garth A. Rose

Friday, 11 July 2008

Florida’s public school system recently beleaguered with financial and other challenges received good news on Tuesday. Based on the results of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) released by the Florida Department of Education, there were 1,583 top-rated schools (with ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades) across the state, 100 more than were so rated last year. But, not only were the grades better than last year, they were the best ever recorded for the state since the FCAT began. Of 2,125 schools reported by the Department of Education, 73.5 percent, earned either the top ‘A’ or ‘B’ grades, while 45 schools got an F, compared with 83 a year ago. The news was particularly good for South Florida schools especially for those in the Munroe County School District. The district reported the highest grades in Florida with 12 ‘A’ schools and one ‘B’ school for the school year. The district’s school superintendent, Randy Acevedo, reported in a news release that three schools improved to ‘A’ grade and none received lower grades over the prior year. In Broward County the school district announced that 58 percent of its schools received ‘A’ grades. Seventy five percent of Broward schools received A’s and B’s. In general, the Broward District moved up from a ‘B’ grade achieved the previous year to an ‘A’ grade.  There were 141 ‘A’ schools reported, an increase of 18. In responding to the encouraging report for the county, the county’s Schools Superintendent was reported to have said that it was like winning the Super Bowl and an Olympics gold medal. Unfortunately, however, three schools fell from either ‘C’ or ‘D’ grades to an ‘F’ grade, and another Charter school, the Smart School Institute of Technology & Commerce in Lauderdale Lakes received its second successive ‘F’ grade, and could be closed if it continues to earn that low grade. According to the Miami-Dade County, 29 more schools received A's than in 2007, increasing the percentage of schools with A, B or C ratings to 89 percent. Several schools that had previously received F scores improved. One such school is Miami Gardens Elementary School, which showed significant improvement and is now graded a ‘B’ school. Among those that went from ‘F’ to ‘C’ schools were Naranja Elementary School, West Homestead Elementary School, Brownsville Middle School, Carol City Middle School and Hialeah Senior High School. However, Miami-Edison High School, where there was student-police violence prior to the FCAT, had its grade fall to an ‘F’ from the ‘D’ grade it received the previous year. The school sought to improve its ‘D’ grade, after years of ‘F’ grades. In Palm Beach County 109 schools got ‘A’ grades and 31 received B's. Four schools received an ‘F’ grade. Notably the Lincoln Elementary School in Riviera Beach improved from an ‘F’ grade and almost a decade of underachieving to attain an ‘A’ grade. Despite the state’s positive overall rating, it still has a problem in meeting the federal No Child Left Behind Act criteria.  According to reports, only a third of schools in South Florida and a quarter statewide met federal government standards. This is lower than in 2007.  While the FCAT results meet state criteria and reward schools with letter grades, the federal No Child Left Behind program measures the FCAT math and reading scores, plus the progress of groups of students based on race, income, disability and language-ability. In all, the federal law sets 39 criteria to be attained and if a school misses even one the school is assessed as having failed.  Despite the high grades from the state, the Department of Education’s report said 1,104 Florida schools that receive federal funding for low-income students failed to make adequate yearly progress under federal standards. According to Eric Smith, the state’s Education Commissioner, adequate funding is necessary to provide the kind of intervention and the kind of acceleration that is needed, because the budget for state schools is really an issue.

 

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