Nearly all of Central Florida excessive colleges earned a coveted A grade from the state this yr. However that top mark doesn’t assure a lot of the colleges’ college students are performing A-grade work.
At Edgewater Excessive Faculty, the marquee was modified this week to proudly proclaim its freshly-minted A-rating, its first since 2011.
However lower than 60% of Edgewater college students handed the state’s language arts exams and fewer than 50% handed Florida’s algebra and geometry assessments.
The Orlando college earned an A underneath a system many Floridians could not perceive:
The state’s college grades are primarily based not simply on the share of scholars who move state assessments, but additionally on what number of present enchancment even when they don’t rating effectively on the exams. And because the variety of A colleges creeps upward, that’s ignited a debate on whether or not Florida is grading its colleges successfully, and whether or not grade inflation is masking continued difficulties educating college students.
Extra excessive colleges in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties earned A’s this yr than in any current yr, with many propelled by “studying positive aspects,” not giant percentages of scholars acing Florida’s exams in math, language arts, social research and science.
Two years in the past, 11 of the realm’s excessive colleges bought an A grade. In 2024, there have been 23 A’s. This yr, 32 bought A’s.
Some argue the system masks true efficiency and fails to point out the general public that many college students are struggling to grasp key tutorial topics.
However others defend it, saying contemplating enchancment rightly provides credit score for the arduous work of serving to college students make positive aspects even when their check scores usually are not stellar. They notice that college students from low-income households sometimes battle probably the most on state exams and with out “studying positive aspects” the one colleges with prime marks could be those who serve largely college students from privileged backgrounds.
“Studying positive aspects are essential, and I believe that speaks much more to what you’re getting out of your college students and what academics are giving for his or her college students,” stated Anthony Cook dinner, an Osceola County Faculty Board member whose district consists of Poinciana Excessive Faculty.
Poinciana earned an A this yr — its first for the reason that college opened in 1991 — after a decade of Cs, helped by pupil enchancment. On the state language arts exams, 54% of its college students handed.
About 85% of Poinciana Excessive’s pupil inhabitants is taken into account economically deprived, in keeping with state knowledge.
The schooling basis based by former Gov. Jeb Bush — who championed Florida’s A-to-F college grades that began in 1999 — desires to see a more durable grading system.
“The purpose of the varsity grade calculation shouldn’t be so that everyone will get an A and type of feels good about themselves, however fairly that it’s a dependable and trustworthy evaluation of how colleges are doing,” stated Nathan Hoffman, the inspiration’s senior legislative director.
Underneath the present system, colleges with A grades can have very totally different percentages of their college students passing state exams. On the perennially A-rated Hagerty Excessive in Seminole County, for instance, 76% of scholars handed the language arts exams. However on the newly A-rated Edgewater it was 58%.
Statewide, 28 colleges bought A grades regardless of at the very least half of their college students not being proficient in language arts, whereas 56 colleges bought the highest grade regardless that half or extra of their college students scored poorly in math. At 10 of the state’s A-rated colleges, at the very least half the scholars scored poorly in each topics.
The excessive marks for colleges this yr — 76% in Orange County and 71% statewide achieved an A or a B — might reignite a debate about whether or not Florida’s college grading scale is just too lenient.
Debra Robinson, a former Palm Seashore County Faculty Board member who’s now chairwoman of the county’s Coalition for Black Scholar Achievement, would welcome a change.
“What’s dangerous to me is that the varsity grades don’t precisely replicate how college students are doing,” she stated. “College students can earn studying positive aspects at their college yr after yr with out ever being proficient, and to me, that’s an issue.”
However within the early 2000s, the state issued grades primarily based solely on the share of scholars passing the exams. Many faculties that served largely low-income college students have been issued D’s and F’s, which many educators and oldsters discovered unfair.
Now a lot of those self same colleges are getting A’s and B’s and celebrating — regardless that numerous college students should still battle on move state assessments.
Ocoee Excessive, the place 54% of scholars handed language arts exams and 46% handed math, introduced its second-consecutive A ranking in a Fb submit. Proud mother and father and alumni praised the colleges and their workers for the enhancements.
“Thanks Ocoee Excessive Faculty, the worth of our houses look nice with that A ranking. We respect your dedication to pupil success,” one commenter wrote.
However that could be quick lived.
Underneath state legislation, the grading scale have to be toughened if greater than 75% of faculties in a selected class obtain A’s and B’s, and 82% of excessive colleges did this yr.
Within the present system, a faculty should obtain 64% of accessible grading-scale factors to get to an A and 57% of these factors to get a B. Beginning subsequent yr, they need to get 65% of factors to get an A and 60% to get a B.
The change would end in 53 A- and B-ranked colleges dropping a letter grade if their efficiency subsequent yr have been the identical.
Some legislators want to see the grading scale get lots more durable. This previous session, state Rep. Susan Valdes, R-Tampa, launched a invoice that may have made it dramatically tougher for colleges to get A’s or B’s.
The invoice would have required a faculty to get 90% of the required factors to get an A, 80% for a B, 70% for a C and 60% for a D.
“Florida college’s grading scale is thus far beneath probably the most generally understood that means of an A, B, C, or D or F,” Valdes stated it a committee assembly. “Grading colleges on a curve has undoubtedly led to confusion and a disconnect between pupil efficiency and faculty efficiency.”
If Valdes’ proposed method have been in place this yr, the variety of A colleges would have plummeted from 1,526 to twenty-eight. The variety of F-rated colleges would have skyrocketed from 10 to 1,546. Her invoice bought favorable committee votes however by no means made it to the Home ground and was by no means thought of by the Senate, and she or he didn’t reply to requests for touch upon whether or not she’d attempt once more subsequent yr.
Angie Gallo, the president of the Florida Faculty Boards Affiliation and an Orange County Faculty Board member, stated she doesn’t suppose elevating the bar that top is smart.
She desires to revamp what makes an A college, transferring the main focus away from standardized testing.
“Children are doing a little nice issues in colleges that aren’t presently being measured,” Gallo stated.
Gallo stated she doesn’t put a lot inventory into college grades and doesn’t suppose they precisely a faculty’s high quality. The present grade system places a lot deal with state exams, she added, and never sufficient on career-readiness.
“We put an excessive amount of emphasis on these check scores and never sufficient on the wants of the coed,” Gallo stated. “Do they actually have the schooling they have to be profitable?”
A spokesperson from the Florida Division of Training couldn’t be reached for remark, however state officers have given little indication they plan to push for a dramatic overhaul to the best way colleges are graded.
“The 2025 college grades are a mirrored image of the nation-leading schooling reforms that Florida has applied,” outgoing Training Commissioner Manny Diaz stated in a press release after college grades launched.