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SoWalSally

Beach Fanatic
Feb 19, 2005
649
49
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/state_9298___article.html/grading_local.html

While Florida schools earned more A's and B's than ever, school districts in Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties boast a total of 67 A-rated schools this year.

Of the 2,889 state schools graded this year, nearly 75 percent, or 2,125, are considered high performing - receiving a grade of "A" or "B."

Okaloosa had 35 A's, 3 B's and 1 C, giving the district the third highest score in the state.

Monroe and Brevard counties were the only school districts that scored higher.

"There's a lot of good teaching and great learning going on in this school district," said Okaloosa Superintendent of Schools Alexis Tibbetts.

Santa Rosa County had 21 A's, 3 B's and 3 C's. Walton County had 11 A's, 1 B and 1 C.

Freeport High School in Walton County made the most significant gains locally, moving from a D to an A this year.

"I'm very proud of their performance," said Walton County Superintendent of Schools Carlene Anderson.

With more than 85 percent of Walton schools making A's, "it shows the success of our students under our principals' leadership," Anderson said.

Anderson said there is still work to be done to target specific subgroups, but "overall, we're very excited," she said.

In Okaloosa, three secondary schools moved up a letter grade. Fort Walton Beach and Crestview high schools and Laurel Hill School moved from B's to A's.

However, Choctawhatchee High School fell from an A to B. Principal Cindy Massarelli-Gates said the drop is related to not moving lowest performing students far enough ahead.

For the first time in six years, the lowest performing students dropped below the 50 percent proficiency mark.

"We're of course disheartened, but we're going to look at every student and every class," Massarelli-Gates said.

With 21 A's, Santa Rosa County Superintendent of Schools John Rogers said he is "just proud as I can be."

"Every school in the county worked hard enough to receive an A ... it was not a lack of effort," he said.

For Rogers, reviewing this year's grades has been bittersweet. He is retiring in the fall, and even with all the pressures, "there's a part of me that will miss all of this yet," he said.

Educators say that making "Adequate Yearly Progress" (AYP) continues to be a challenge for many schools in Florida.

Florida was recently selected to participate in the federal Differentiated Accountability pilot program, which provides more flexibility for Title I schools in the type of corrective actions they need to implement.

Through the program, Title I schools that consecutively fail to make AYP will be placed into three main improvement levels based on the school's letter grade, percentage of AYP requirements met, and the number of years it has not made AYP.
 

ShallowsNole

Beach Fanatic
Jun 22, 2005
4,292
849
Pt Washington
I am really proud of our schools this year. I'm not a fan of FCAT, but if I read it right, there is no school south of DeFuniak with a grade less than an "A" this year. :clap: Paxton got an "A," too!
 

mdd88jd

Beach Lover
May 26, 2008
155
210
We are real happy with the school grades. Again, I am not a big supporter of the FCAT and the school grades system and we need to keep in mind what the FCAT actually tests. But, it is good to know our students are doing so well. Congratulations to our Principals, Teachers, Staff, Students and Parents!

M
 

Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,250
9,279
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
We are real happy with the school grades. Again, I am not a big supporter of the FCAT and the school grades system and we need to keep in mind what the FCAT actually tests. But, it is good to know our students are doing so well. Congratulations to our Principals, Teachers, Staff, Students and Parents!

M

also, keep in mind how much time and resources each school commits to teaching students this test, then administering, just so they can get a grade and stay in business. ask a guidance counselor about how much time she must dedicate to the rules, regs, oversight, administration, security, etc of such testing. just ask a good teacher what she has to do to make sure all students are performing at the minimum standard, regardless of their academic needs and abilities, while trying to also keep advanced students on the right track. and then what happens to a portion of kids (most from lower economic families) who do not respond well to test-based curriculum, and keep getting further behind when they do not get the intervention they need and instead must stay back a grade, but they keep getting the same old test-based instruction regardless of their learning styles.

we do need innovative ways to evaluate students (that is what a teacher is for), and progressive ways to evaluate our schools. but these need not be a system or test that narrows the curriculum, changes the way teachers must teach (testing), and result in teaching children that learning is important because of a test that rules the school. (yes, testing is part of our life and we must truly learn this skill, but it should not be the motivation behind teaching and learning).

but, I'm still happy about our public schools and proud of them, though I worry about the future of schools guided by publicly elected board members with political agendas, on top of testing as the thing that matters most. I know first hand how excellent they still are. while they are not perfect, they are nice education facilities wtih good staff and great kids and parents. we remain blessed in SoWal.
 
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Jdarg

SoWal Expert
Feb 15, 2005
18,068
1,973
Toots- spend some time with Mark Davis. I have yet to find a political agenda attached to him. I just wish we could clone him.:sosad:
 

Jdarg

SoWal Expert
Feb 15, 2005
18,068
1,973

Jdarg

SoWal Expert
Feb 15, 2005
18,068
1,973
While I have public schools on the brain, let me remind everyone that a strong public school system is good for our local economy and real estate values, which I think we can all agree could use a boost right now!:D

Families look at high rated public school systems when making moving decisions. I know - I came from a small 'burb of Louisville where both the owner and top brass of Papa John's Pizza and the top tier of YUM Brands bought houses -because of the top rated school.

There are many Walton County residents who don't have kids in Walton County schools, but it would be wise of everyone to take notice of the school board election and help to make our schools the best they can be. A strong public school system benefits all residents!
 

mdd88jd

Beach Lover
May 26, 2008
155
210
Tootsie has cogently expressed my ongoing concerns about FCAT and the A+ for education program. If the school's complete focus becomes FCAT and the grade, then the school's curriculum becomes far too narrow. I have fought all efforts to move our school in that direction. For instance, I have objected to History teachers (and other non-FCAT subject teachers) being required to spend a portion of their instruction time teaching the reading skills that are tested on the FCAT. I really believe the FCAT emphasis and grading system has hurt our music and art programs the worst. In middle schools, if a kids makes a lower score on the FCAT reading and math, they must be remediated a certain number of minutes in the school day. Since the State won't let us increase the number of hours in the day, those minutes must be taken from something. In most middle schools, those minutes are removed from band, chorus or art. Since those particular kids are not participating in those programs at the middle school age, they do not do so once they get to high school and those programs continue to shrink. I could give you other examples of how the FCAT and school grading shrinks the curriculum. The only good thing that has come out of the FCAT and school grading is that it does force principals and teachers to not ignore those students who are falling behind. However, like Tootsie, I have some real problems with the constant remediation those students have to endure.

This all goes back to the "business model" of education which demands "accountability" from schools. But, the question is never asked, "what should schools be accountable for?" (forgive the preposition placement). I think school board should be accountable to the public for providing outstanding facilities for the teachers to teach in and the students to learn; attracting and retaining high quality faculties; providing a safe school environment; using tax dollars efficiently and wisely; providing a broad and academically challenging curriculum; providing well-funded and outstanding extra-curricular activities; and providing leadership to the district for an efficient and coherent system. By the way, I am sure they are other things, but, I cannot think of them now.

Teachers should be accountable for teaching with the best practices available and doing so in an imaginative and enthusiastic manner. But, should a teacher be responsible and accountable for a student's performance on one high stakes test? Where does the teacher's (and the principals, etc.,) responsibility end and the students' and their parents' responsibility begin? I am sure none of these questions were explored when Governor Bush and the Legislature passed the A+ for Education program.

Should we test for knowledge? Absolutely, but, that is what we hire teachers to do. I do not have a problem with testing, but, if we are going to test and grade a school on the performance on that test, should not the entire curriculum be tested instead of just three subjects?

That's my soapbox today. I agree with Tootsie, we have excellent schools. They are outstanding despite FCAT and the A+ for education and No Child Left Behind requirements. Our students do well on whatever measure you find, but, we can always do better. We need more AP and honors type classes in high schools. We need to attack the drop out rate and the underlying causes for the high drop out rate (one of which Tootsie touched on) and we need continue to seek out and hire highly qualified and certified teachers. We have come a long way, but, there is still a way to go to get to my ultimate goal. My goal is that Walton County should have a "world class" school system that sets the standard for public schools in this country. We have the resources, the students, the parents and the staff. We just have to keep demanding improvement.

m
 

rocketman

Beach Comber
Jun 28, 2008
48
11
Thanks

Thank you for your recognition of our schools in Walton County. As an educator in this district, I will always be appreciative of everyone who is involved in the education of our children. We have come a long way in the last four years under the leadership of Carlene Anderson, as well as, the hard working people within this school district. We are now the fifth highest achieving school district in the state and will, without question, achieve the number one distinction under the current leadership in the very near future. I would encourage everyone to continue to work toward that goal......

Respectfully,
Rocketman
 
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