Schools get graded along with students in Florida system

  • Published
  • By Nick Stubbs
  • Thunderbolt editor
MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Good grades in school are important, but in Florida it isn't just students who are graded. Public schools get report cards, as well.

The grading system is based on performance and learning gains exhibited by students, along with other components, including level of participation and performance in accelerated curricula, graduation rates, college readiness based on SAT and other scores, and other factors. A complete description of how schools are graded can be viewed at http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/pdf/1112/Guidesheet2012SchoolGrades.pdf.

"The rating system is very helpful to MacDill parents," said Nelly Richards, MacDill's school liaison officer.

Hillsborough County schools, along with any other public school in Florida, can be tracked through an interactive website at http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org/default.asp. The site also includes a link explaining how schools are graded.

The information can be used by parents and student to evaluate how their school is doing, and help them make decisions about what school best meets their needs.

Application deadlines to attend an out-of-area school, as well as applications for magnate and charter schools have passed for the 2012 to 2013 school year, but Richards said application periods for the 2013 to 2014 year will begin in stages starting in January 2013.

"It is important to make decisions and apply early," said Richards, who added that several factors, including space available, academic achievement and parental hardship factors are considered.

The Hillsborough County school system application and school choice web page is http://www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/choice/.
Parents who track school performance should be aware that lower grades for some schools this school year may not indicate falling performance, according to a recent letter issued by Gerard Robinson, Florida's commissioner of education. "As grades for elementary, middle and many combination schools become available, you may notice that some schools have lower grades than last year. That does not necessarily mean that the schools, teachers or students are not doing as well as they were before. There were a number of changes to the state's accountability system this year that impacted the results," Robinson wrote, adding that, "The state has been moving to higher academic standards, new assessments that measure students' progress toward meeting the standards, and higher achievement levels for subjects such as reading and math. These new standards, assessments, and achievement levels are being used to determine school grades this year."

For questions about school grades, visit www.floridapathtosuccess.org or call 1-866-507-1109. To receive periodic email updates about this topic and related issues, sign up here: http://parents.fldoe.org/home.