South Florida schools earned high placements for 2011, in Florida's initial school ranking report in five categories: elementary, middle, high, combination elementary/middle and combination middle/high.

In Miami-Dade, Archimedean Middle Conservatory, a charter middle school specializing in mathematics and Greek in West Kendall, was named the state's best middle school. George Washington Carver Middle in Coral Gables and Herbert A. Ammons Middle in southwest Miami-Dade were also included among the 10 best middle schools in the state.

State rankings for the Magnet School category included four Miami-Dade schools: Maritime and Science Technology Academy in Virginia Key, the Design and Architecture Senior High School in Miami's Design District, the Coral Reef Senior High in southwest Miami-Dade, and the New World School of the Arts in downtown Miami.

Broward County schools also managed to grab the spotlight. Imagine Charter School, located in Weston, was also ranked third among the state's 1,800 elementary schools. For the past decade, Imagine Charter School has been ranked as one of Broward County's top schools. Florida Intercultural Academy in Davie was also included in the state's top 10 elementary schools rankings. In all, the Broward School District also had three schools in the top 20 in the high school category.

In Palm Beach County, Suncoast High School, a magnet school located in Riviera Beach, placed third among the state's 400 public high schools. The Palm Beach School District also had schools ranked among the top 10 state schools in the elementary and middle school categories.

Beachside Montessori Village in Hollywood, Broward County, and Key Biscayne K-8 Center and Aventura City of Excellence School in Miami-Dade were also included in the top ranked combination schools.

The release of the school rankings followed last week's announcement of the state's ranking of Florida's 67 school districts, which saw the Palm Beach County District ranked 13th, Broward 26th and Miami-Dade 37th.

The school rankings are based on points earned in Florida's school grading formula, which grades schools from A to F. For elementary and middle schools, the rankings are based on student performance in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). For high schools, the ranking is based half on FCAT scores and half on other criteria, including high school graduation rates and student success in advanced classes.

In response to the release of the new, favorable rankings, Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie noted that the mix of schools in the top rankings indicated that Broward County has good options for students and families, including excellent charter schools and public schools.

Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said that, while he was proud of the district's accomplishments, he believed that overall rankings provide an overly simplistic view of academic success, and that thanking, rather than ranking, a teacher was preferable in Miami.

Other Florida educators were also not in favor of the new ranking system introduced by Florida Governor Rick Scott and Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson.

The Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, called the rankings "misguided" and said they mostly measured family income, while other educators criticized the ranking for not considering the impact of outlying factors, such as poverty, on a student's academic performance. Most of the favorably ranked schools were in communities with average incomes above the state's poverty level.