Grades released for Central Florida schools, districts

Seminole, Brevard school districts receive overall 'A' grade

Educators and parents are not putting much weight behind district and school grades released by the Florida Department of Education on Friday.

[READ: District grades | School grades ]

Orange, Volusia, Lake and Osceola county schools all received "B" grades, while Seminole and Brevard school districts received an overall "A" grade. 

The grades are based on the Florida Standards Assessment, which was plagued with technical problems during its first year in use last school year.

State leaders say they the law required them to release the grades.

All eight school districts in east-central Florida scored an A or a B, even though some superintendents are not putting much stock in them.

"The grades are of limited value at this point and are viewed as partial grades because they lack critical components such as learning gains," said Dr. Barbara Jenkins, superintendent for Orange County Public Schools.

Jenkins sent an email to principals this week, directing them not to promote their individual school grades on their school marquis signs.

Instead, she said she wanted the schools to use the space to celebrate teachers. Marquis signs at Kaley Elementary and Boone High School read, "Teachers lead students to success."

The preliminary grades given out for 3,219 schools show that 1,169 schools received A grades and 642 were given a B. A total of 184 schools earned an F grade while 365 schools were given a D. Some 859 schools got a C grade.

The marks are based on student performance on the FSA, which is is based primarily on Common Core standards.

School grades were delayed because the state had to come up with passing scores for the new test. School superintendents wanted to pause school grades for this year based on the troubled rollout of the new test last spring.

Check back for more on this story.


About the Author:

Erik Sandoval joined the News 6 team as a reporter in May 2013 and became an Investigator in 2020. During his time at News 6, Erik has covered several major stories, including the 2016 Presidential campaign. He was also one of the first reporters live on the air at the Pulse Nightclub shooting.