First, the good news: statewide, the number of failing schools was cut in half. When it comes to school districts, the results were mixed. Not a single district in the state improved its grade and half of them went down.
In Escambia County, the district grade went from a B to a C. "Well I think it's pretty much what we expected" said Escambia County School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas. "Remember this is the first time the state of Florida is using the new accountability system. I think the public realizes we have a new test to measure Florida Standards, but the whole accountability system was also adjusted." Thomas says there were changes to how the state calculates school grades and learning gains. And it’s the “learning gains” part of the evaluations that seems to have been the big question mark.
In Santa Rosa County, the district went from an A to a B grade. "Last year we did not (assess) learning gains because we had never given the test before." said Santa Rosa School Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick. Wyrosdick feels this year’s results will act as a baseline going forward with the new assessment method. He says a dip in the score was something they anticipated. "We had a much more difficult test and we were scored differently and much more rigorously. So I believe we are about where we need to be."
Taking a look at both counties, individual school grades were also hit hard by the new standards. In Escambia County only two schools improved, including O.J.Semmes Elementary which raised their grade from an F to a C. 22 schools in the county decreased their grade. In Santa Rosa County 12 schools decreased their grade while 15 remained the same. No schools in Santa Rosa increased their score; however 11 of the schools that remained the same were A schools.
Statewide, out of 67 districts, only three were graded A, and one of them is here on the panhandle. "I don't know if I could be any more proud of our students and teachers and administrators and parents" said Mary Beth Jackson, the school superintendent in Okaloosa County. The Okaloosa district was one of three in the state that got the top grade this year. "What I'm particularly proud of is these results are reflective of the more rigorous curriculum the kids are working with. And also, making learning gains now is more difficult than it has been in the past and we were really kind of nervous about how that might reflect on our school grades." Jackson says there are still areas they need to improve on in the district. "My motto, and everybody knows it. The principals repeat it to me quite often: progress, not perfection".
And progress is what all the superintendents are looking for going forward. Escambia county’s Malcolm Thomas says that now that teachers and administrators know the goals and the standards, they can get back to where they were before the changes. "We know that the rigor is increased. We know that what's expected of our students is greater, but for today's student looking for tomorrow's future that's a necessity. So here we go we start again. And anytime you've seen Florida adjust the (accountability) system, you've always seen a decline before the scores can get better. And that's what you are going to see here. You are going to see over time the growth scores will improve as teachers can begin to internalize and learn from the data and the results."
And that planning has already begun. The first day of the new school year is a little over four weeks away.
