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Most county schools get A or B grades
Article published on Thursday, July 5, 2007 |
PINELLAS COUNTY – Officials report that 75 percent of Pinellas County’s 120 graded public schools received an “A” or a “B” in Florida A+ Plan, continuing the district pattern of surpassing statewide averages by having a higher percentage of high-performing schools (A or B) and a lower percentage of lower-performing schools.
Twenty percent of Pinellas schools earned a C. Only six schools, or 5 percent, earned a D. There were no F schools in Pinellas.
“While this isn’t the only way to measure academic success, we’re very pleased to see our students continue to perform at such a high level,” said Dr. Clayton M. Wilcox, superintendent. “This performance wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of teachers, who every day, help our kids learn. Each year we see our students make significant learning gains, and that’s the measure that really matters.”
Breakdown of results by grade and school level
A – 53 elementary, 12 middle and two high schools.
B – 15 elementary, six middle and two high schools.
C – 13 elementary, four middle and seven high schools.
D – one elementary and five high schools.
Five elementary schools – Azalea, Fairmount Park, Kings Highway, Lealman Avenue and Tyrone – improved their grades from “C” to “A” this year.
Overall, 21 schools improved a letter grade or more, 73 schools stayed the same, and 26 schools dropped a letter grade as compared to 2006.
While some schools may have decreased a letter grade, based on the multiple components of the school-grading calculations, the majority of these schools continue to improve in one or more areas of their student achievement measures.
For example, of the 26 schools that went down a letter grade in 2007, 17 of them, or 77 percent, showed improvement in making learning gains in reading.
School grades are based on student performance as measured by the Sunshine State Standards section of the FCAT. The school grade calculation is comprised of student performance in relation to high standards in reading, math, writing and science; annual learning gains in reading and math; and the annual learning gains in reading and math of each school’s lowest-achieving 25 percent of students.
New for the 2007 school grades is the inclusion of FCAT science scores. In addition, this year there is a new focus on the lowest 25 percent of students at each school making annual learning gains in math.
Public schools statewide are not yet as proficient on the FCAT science test as they are on the other measures, and this has caused school grades to go down overall this year. The new learning-gain category in math has the same rules as the reading gains for lowest-performing 25 percent, which have been a part of the school grading for the past few years.
Any school with enough points for an “A” must have a minimum of 50 percent of students in the lowest 25 percent group make gains in both reading and math. “B” and “C” schools must have met the minimum 50 percent requirement in one of the previous two years.
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Article published on Thursday, July 5, 2007
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