Five Things We Learned From Florida’s High School Grades

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Five things we learned from Wednesday's release of high school grades.

Florida high schools learned their grades from the Department of Education Wednesday.

StateImpact Florida learned a few lessons in the data:

1) Grades are going up — More high schools than ever earned an ‘A’ or ‘B’ grade on last year’s report cards.

The biggest surge came in schools earning Bs — up to 207 from 162 in 2010. The number of high schools earning an A was 121 in both 2010 and 2011.

More than 80 percent of high schools earned an A or B in 2011, up from 70 percent in 2010.

A note — These figures are for high schools serving only grades 9 through 12. The state also awards grades to combination schools that serve high school and younger students.

UPDATE: Fully half of state high schools scored high enough to earn an A (91 were docked a grade for performance of the bottom 25 percent of students), which begs the question: Are we seeing inflation on school grades?

2) Fewer schools earned ‘D’ or ‘F’ grades –Just three high schools earned an F last year, half the number of 2010.

D schools were also halved, down to 23 from 53 the previous year.

The number of C schools also declined slightly.

3) Schools will adjust to meet standards — Advocates for tougher education standards argue if the state asks more of schools and students they will step up their performance.

Two years ago Florida starting giving credit to schools that had students taking Advanced Placement, community college courses or other high-level college prep classes. The report card also gives a bonus for students earning an industry certification for a trade or profession.

More students are taking college prep courses and earning industry certifications as a result, Florida Department of Education officials said.

Industry certifications doubled — to 33,000 from 16,000 — in 2011. And 23,000 more students took dual enrollment courses which earn college credit — with more than 21,200 completing the classes.

“There’s a lot of students that have been positively affected,” Kris Ellington, deputy commissioner at the Florida Department of Education, said in a conference call with reporters.

4) Report cards were more trouble this year — The high school grades were released a month later than originally planned, Ellington said, because it was more difficult to gather the data for the increasingly complicated rating.

High schools can not report graduation rates until the fall. Ellington said the agency has had trouble with some data, but would not specify.

The scores of some students were excluded from the school grades while the state agency investigates accusations of cheating on standardized tests.

The delay in scores also delayed bonuses paid to educators at schools earning top grades.

Ellington said the agency is working to avoid late grades next year.

“We have already met to discuss ways we can make deadlines earlier,” she said.

5) Change is coming — The grading system was tweaked this year, and school leaders are discussing adjusting the rating system for next year.

Already approved are new, higher Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test requirements. The new requirements likely mean more students will not meet graduation requirement the first time they take the test in high school.

Florida is also changing the way it calculates its graduation rate to a federal standard that will likely mean lower reported graduation rates.

The agency and state board of education are meeting this month to debate other changes to the grading system.

Commissioner Gerard Robinson said that could mean including additional graduation rate measures or new laws approved by the Legislature.

“There is no final check list of what changes will be in the rule,” he said.

Ellington said changing the grading system does not negate the value or accuracy of the grades.

“The grades are accurate every year,” she said. “It’s just that the context keeps changing.”