Schools and Education State Releases 2012 School Grades for Elementary and Middle Schools

BRADENTON -- The Florida Department of Education released School Grades today for elementary and middle schools across the state. As anticipated, the increased rigor of Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test 2.0 and newly implemented ”cut scores“ that raises the bar students need to reach to be considered proficient, impacted School Grades across Florida.

In total, 53 Manatee District schools received School Grades today. School Grades for high schools will be released at a later date. Manatee District results reflected the following:

• 15 schools received A grades this year, compared to 20 Manatee District Schools that received A grades in 2011.
• 12 schools received B grades this year, compared to 17 Manatee District Schools that received B grades in 2011.
• 12 schools received C grades this year, compared to 13 Manatee District Schools that received C grades in 2011.
• 11 schools received D grades this year, compared to two Manatee District Schools that received D grades last year.
• One school received an F grade this year, the same as in 2011.
• Two school grades will be released at a later date.
• 27 Manatee District schools saw their School Grades drop in 2012, compared to 7 Manatee District schools that saw their School Grades drop in 2011.

In 2011, the percentage of Manatee District schools that received an A, B or C grade was 94 percent. In 2012, the percentage of Manatee District schools to receive an A, B or C grade was 74 percent.

Five Manatee District schools did raise their School Grades this year compared to 2011, including Braden River Elementary and Buffalo Creek Middle, which both moved from a B to an A; and Rogers Garden Elementary, which moved from an F last year to a D this year.

”These school grades reflect the changes in the FCAT cut scores approved by the State Board of Education in December 2011,“ said Superintendent Tim McGonegal. ”These new cut scores dramatically raise the bar for elementary and middle school students. Statewide there were 365 fewer A schools this year and the number of D and F schools almost doubled.“ 

McGonegal also stressed that school grades would have been even worse across the board if the State Board of Education had not approved a change in the scoring system in February 2012 that stated the maximum a school letter grade would drop would be one letter grade this year. If this safeguard had not been in place, 388 schools would have dropped at least one more letter grade across the state. 

”The school grades released today should be considered in light of the changes to the FCAT scoring, and not seen as an indictment of our public schools, teachers and students for not performing as well as in past years,“ McGonegal said. ”The decrease in school grades across the state is a direct result of the increased FCAT cut scores.“