INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) Commissioner Pam Stewart and her office has released simulated School Grades for the 2014-2015 school year.
The School Grades released are based on the Commissioner’s proposed FSA achievement level scores and proposed changes to the school grading system.
Under the newly released simulated School Grades, Indian River schools earned 10 “A”s, 2 “B”s, 5 “C”s, 4 “D”s, and 1 “F”. Two schools, Sebastian River High School and St. Peter’s Academy, would have received School Grades of B and A, respectively, but the FLDOE withheld grades for these schools due to not meeting a minimum percentage of eligible students tested.
Previously, a school was required to test 90 percent of their eligible students in order to receive a School Grade and 95 percent in order to receive an “A.” Under the newly Proposed State Board Rule, schools will be required to test 95 percent of all eligible students in order to receive a School Grade. Staff is in the process of analyzing data around this issue and may use an appeals process that is in place, if they find the FLDOE information to be inaccurate.
Because of the vast changes proposed to the School Grade system, the FLDOE has pledged that the School Grades for the 2014-2015 school year will not be used for accountability purposes. Instead, these school grades would be used as a baseline score for future school grade comparison.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell said, “As we look at the simulated school grades, we must remember that these grades are not final. Both the cut scores and grading formula await approval of the State Board of Education, which will not review them until early January. Which is somewhat problematic, as these results reflect student performance on tests that were taken almost nine months ago. We must also note that this grade calculation does not include a growth component, which is one of the best measures of our work with our students. We have already analyzed the individual student performance results on these measures and used that information to inform instruction. We are always looking at methods to evaluate our performance and will use this data as part of that process.”
The school grades released by the FLDOE Commissioner are simulated and based on proposed changes that are not final. The State Board of Education will vote on these changes at next month’s meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 6 in Tallahassee.
