Florida Schools Receive Grades, New Charter School Earns F

Despite higher writing standards in Florida's public elementary, middle and non-high-school combination schools this year, school performance remained similar to that of previous years.

The state's Department of Education announced yesterday that more than three-quarters of its 2,547 graded schools received high-performing scores -- a grade of either "A" or "B." Just under one-fifth of the schools earned a grade of "C," 5 percent earned a "D," and 1 percent -- 31 schools -- earned an "F."

In March, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed the "Student Success Act" into law -- his first act as governor. The law, for the first time, correlated teachers' salary raises with how their students perform.

One of the lowest performing schools on the list this year was KIPP Impact Middle School, a college preparatory school part of the Knowledge is Power Program, a national network of open-enrollment schools in underprivileged communities. Kipp Impact opened just this year and received an F.

The middle school was also where Scott signed the Student Success Act.

Still, of note are two schools -- Cunningham Creek Elementary and Fleming Island Elementary -- that have earned As every year since the grading program's inception in 1999.

Comments

[1088]

04:51 PM on 07/13/2011

Keep that man away from your children!

[SeptimusDSX]

09:26 PM on 07/02/2011

What happens if a school is deemed failing?

[onrecess]

05:54 PM on 07/03/2011

Public schools can be closed, the staff fired, and remade as a charter. Charter schools get mentioned in the paper and given more money.

[Dlollar67]

09:01 PM on 07/02/2011

Teacher salary tied to student performance--student performance lower in school with poorer students--yeah, that's real smart. At what point will the intellectually delayed leaders realize that what students do on a test have so little bearing on the quality of their teachers its laughable. Take those "great" teachers out of the wealthy white schools and see just how different the test scores would be when working with the poorer kids--it's not the teacher taking that test, folks!

[TaylerWoods]

02:10 PM on 07/02/2011

Children aren't dumb. We tell them to get a good education to get a good job. They see both mom and dad with college degrees, perhaps MAs, get laid off, struggling to find jobs when 20,000 people apply for 5 openings. I am sure the issues are bigger than this, but children live it and they are not dumb.

[Tulipss]

01:59 PM on 07/03/2011

Children are getting dumber because of the combination vaccinations, like MMR and chicken pox all in one shot. The brain and immune system can't handle 5 or 10 viruses all at once.

[TaylerWoods]

02:25 PM on 07/03/2011

Well, I did not know all the vaccines were in one shot. I suppose it is debatable and am not up to date in my research on that. But appreciate the reply.

[spoonbill1963]

01:33 PM on 07/02/2011

Charter schools ain't great...just better than public schools. Much better.

[onrecess]

05:55 PM on 07/03/2011

Except their results are worse. Genius.

[Bengalidan]

06:56 PM on 07/04/2011

I work for a charter school. There is nothing inherently good or bad about charters. They do not usually perform better, or even as well, as the local public schools. They are not funded at the same level, so are cheaper to run. And without some of the same rules and regs of the regular public school system it is far easier for tax money to be funneled to private businesses that provide a lesser and more expensive service than if the publically funded school did it themselves. Many charters are closed due to "financial difficulties", which usually result from inexperienced money managers who think they can do things better than the pros. Charter schools can be a good option for folks, but most are not more effective with most students than their local schools. Don't listen to the rhetoric, but look up the actual stats and information from each state's department of education.

[DeweyJ]

09:58 AM on 07/02/2011

I have two suggestions:

1. Please look into the new book, "Readacide" which details how efforts like NCLB have actually damaged reading instruction in our schools.

2. See the movie "The Inconvenient Truth About Waiting for Superman" to learn about how charter schools function in NYC, and other cities that are copying their model.

I believe if you "google" both, you will find them.

[Jenn May]

09:08 PM on 07/01/2011

What is sad is that now that Florida is "reforming" everything and following the trend of devaluing their teachers and decapitating budgets those "A's" and "B's" will be gone soon enough... Rick's momma should have taught him that if it isn't broke...

[TINA ANDRES]

08:53 PM on 07/01/2011

There is no way that charters will ever do as well as public schools unless we continue to allow them to cherry pick students and kick out the kids who have behavior problems and educational challenges. And if they want to give it a shot with the worst students, go ahead and try and you'll be dealing with the same issues as the rest of us. My own son's charter is doing a fabulous job but only because they are a dual immersion school and until this country wakes up and realizes that teaching a second language from Kindergarten on is the best strategy for improvement, nothing will happen except a bunch of spinning wheels.

[spoonbill1963]

01:34 PM on 07/02/2011

I get tired of hearing the same old thing.

[onrecess]

05:52 PM on 07/03/2011

Yes, things experts repeat endlessly have no merit because they bore you. Feel free to ignore the zillion warnings about playing in traffic.

[PixieGirl0731]

08:30 PM on 07/01/2011

Ummmm IF this is what the worst state is going to do in education what will NJ do? the same? NJ will soon start dropping.

[onrecess]

07:06 PM on 07/01/2011

Funny, they "forgot" to mention only TWO elementary schools made F scores! This CHARTER and ANOTHER CHARTER.
I thought they were the miracle cure???

[Teacheronthemic]

05:57 PM on 07/01/2011

To quote Joseph K from http://thetrialsofjosephk.blogspot.com ,"When I taught gifted/high achieving students in West L.A., I was a Superteacher. My students' scores were so high, LAUSD called me in to do curriculum development. I was twice named a Johns Hopkins Teaching Fellow. Today my children have no such advantages. They wake up every morning in their gang-ridden, drug-infested neighborhoods at five a.m. to catch the bus by six. I am no longer a Superteacher. Now I'm just an a$$h@le with the test scores to prove it."

[onrecess]

07:10 PM on 07/01/2011

Amen. When I was at a school in the projects, I was an a$#%^hole, but now in a higher socioeconomic school a mile or two away I am getting merit pay. The new laws will give me even more AND fire the teachers stuck where I was- trying to help poverty stricken children.
Brilliant.

[PixieGirl0731]

08:32 PM on 07/01/2011

BRAVO! The TRUTH!!!!!!
I have had a similar experience. I was a bad teacher until my HS grad rates were the highest in the district. But, I am a bad teacher. My entire school is filled with bad teachers. Please we all need to improve. When are we goign to face the facts that there is a witch hunt on... soon we will all be forced to drink posion.

[spoonbill1963]

01:36 PM on 07/02/2011

Blame the progressives for the kids growing up the way they are. Gangs and drug dealers are part of their diversity program.

[maninal2]

04:50 PM on 07/02/2011

By your posts it's clear that either you're handicapped or not quite 10. Which is it?

[sonjasmom]

05:56 PM on 07/01/2011

While I don't think charter schools are a panacea, let's be fair. Scott signed the bill in March. So that means less than 3 months under the new system. And how did the public schools which provided the students for KIPP do?

[onrecess]

07:05 PM on 07/01/2011

That charter had the kids all year. Nice guess, though. Your scores only count if you have the kids all year.

[OneVoiceInFL]

08:48 PM on 07/01/2011

The bill has nothing to do with it aside from the fact that Rick Scott hold up charters as the end all/be all of education reform. Of course, that's only because he and his cronies want to funnel public money to private entities, but I digress. Florida has had a school grading system that was put in place more than a year ago by then Gov. Jeb Bush. A school receives a letter grade based upon their students' performance on the FCAT, given each spring. This particular KIPP school, ironically where Rick Scott signed the sweeping and unprecedented education reforms, was supposed to be the answer to all that ails education in the city of Jacksonville. They failed abysmally! Now we just have to wait for the KIPP corporation to come up with their excuses.

[Mr Ruthless]

04:02 PM on 07/01/2011

Correlating teacher's salaries with student performance is a mistake. All the good teachers are not going to work at schools where lower income students attend. Who would want to work at a school where the majority of the students are going to do poorly no matter how good a teacher you are?

[spoonbill1963]

01:37 PM on 07/02/2011

Get rid of teachers.
Replace them with computers.
Do it now before it's too late.

[maninal2]

04:51 PM on 07/02/2011

When you grow up and leave your mommy's basement you'll understand more about the real world. In the meantime it's time for your nap. You have nothing to add here.

[TINA ANDRES]

03:24 PM on 07/01/2011

That's actually funny.