Find Your School’s Grade | Education Coverage

Tribune staff and wire report

Once again, Florida’s school report card was top and bottom heavy with high and low grades likely to shock both educators and parents.

A couple of A-graded elementary schools dropped to F and some D graded schools jumped to A.

Locally, Hillsborough schools earned 106 A grades, 37 B’s, 48 C’s, 16 D’s and 5 F’s.

Neither Pasco nor Pinellas had any F schools and Polk had one. The state said the addition of science tests scores for the first time and other increases in standards are responsible.

In explaining the annual report card today, state and local officials focused on schools with improved grades.

Statewide, the number of failing public schools in Florida nearly quadrupled in 2007 while the number of schools that earned A or B grades fell more than 6 percentage points, the Education Department said today.

Eighty-two schools received F grades compared to 21 a year ago. The total of D and F schools more than doubled, increasing from 143 to 302 while 136 fewer schools received A or B grades.

Twenty-six of the F schools were in Miami-Dade County.

The declines can be attributed to more rigid standards, Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg said.

“We’re right on target in terms of what we anticipated would occur this year,” Blomberg said. “One of the major messages here is that we have raised the bar. Three times since 2000. That is exactly the intent in terms of increasing student performance.”

The school grades are based on student scores from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. For the first time this year, science was included and it also measured gains in math by the lowest performing 25 percent.

More than two-thirds of schools received either A’s or B’s, compared to 75 percent that had the same marks in 2006.

High schools were eligible for the first time to earn 10 bonus points if at least half of the high school juniors and seniors passed FCAT retakes in math and reading.

Blomberg said 61 schools earned the bonus points and that 21 were able to increase their letter grade as a result.

The schools that got an A are eligible for a $100 per student reward under the “APlus” school accountability plan that began in 1999 under then-Gov. Jeb Bush.

But the system has been unpopular with Democrats since its origin. They say it puts too much emphasis on high-stakes testing while the state’s schools remain underfunded.

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