The Florida Department of Education released its annual school grades this week, and grades are up in Marion County for both the district and several local schools.
Since Florida was the first state in the nation to transition to utilizing progress monitoring instead of traditional high-stakes testing, the 2022-2023 grades “carry no negative consequences.” Instead, these latest grades will “serve as baseline data,” according to Marion County Public Schools.
Based on this latest data, MCPS has improved to a “B” school district, up one letter grade from the previous year. The district also earned 59% in total points, an increase of 6% compared to last year.
The following five schools in Marion County earned “A” grades: Dr. N.H. Jones Elementary, Eighth Street Elementary, Ina A. Colen Academy, Madison Street Academy, and Ward-Highlands Elementary.
In addition to Ward-Highlands Elementary, which improved from a “B” to an “A” grade, seven other schools improved by at least one letter grade including Belleview Elementary (B), East Marion Elementary (C), Maplewood Elementary (B), McIntosh Area School (C), Belleview Middle (B), Lake Weir Middle (C), and Belleview High (B).
There were no failing schools in Marion County.
These school grades are based on student performance on Florida’s new Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) standards. Following the transition to the B.E.S.T. standards, FDOE developed a new test, Florida’s Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST), a progress monitoring system that provides teachers, students, and parents with real-time, immediate, and actionable data at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year to encourage student improvement.
According to MCPS, schools may receive the benefits of an increased school grade by qualifying for school recognition or exiting turnaround status.
For more information, visit the Florida Department of Education’s Accountability & Reporting webpage.