Grades were given to 51 charter, elementary, middle, and high schools in Marion County this week as part of the Florida School Accountability Reports, which provide performance for schools and districts across the state.
The Florida Department of Education released its annual school and district grades last week. The Marion County School District earned a “C” grade for the 2023-2024 school year, tying 16 other districts that were the lowest-performing in the state of Florida.
Among the district’s 51 schools, six earned “A” grades: Ina A. Colen Academy, Hammett Bowen Jr. Elementary School, Dr. N. H. Jones Elementary School, Madison Street Academy of Visual and Performing Arts, and Ward-Highlands Elementary School.
Five of the six schools also received A’s in 2023, with Hammett Bowen Jr. improving from a B.
For this year, a school’s grade was composed of 12 possible components that pertain to achievement, learning gains, middle school acceleration, graduation rate, and college and career acceleration, where applicable.
Schools were graded A, B, C, D, or F using the components for which they had “sufficient data.” A school had to test “at least 95% of its students” in order to participate and each component was worth up to 100 points in the overall calculation.
A school earned an “A” if they scored at least 64% of the points available (62% for elementary schools), a “B” for earning 57% to 63% of the points (54% to 61% for elementary schools) , a “C” for earning 44% to 56% of the points (41% to 53% for elementary schools), a “D” for earning 34% to 43% of the points (32% to 40% for elementary schools), and an “F” for earning 0% to 33% of the points (0% to 31% for elementary schools).
At least eight schools in Marion County improved their grades over the previous school year, while five others experienced at least a one-letter grade reduction.
The data also shows that the schools with the highest percentages of economically disadvantaged students earn lower grades than those with lower percentages. At least four of the six schools that earned “A” grades have less than 75% economically disadvantaged students. Nearly every other school in the county has over 90% economically disadvantaged students, with 34 schools at 100%.
Ina A. Colen Academy, which had the lowest percentage of economically disadvantaged students at 15.2%, scored the highest total number of points with 608 out of a possible 900. The 67.6% percentage score earned the school an “A” grade based on the nine components for which it was evaluated.
Madison Street Academy earned the highest percentage of points among all schools with a 74.6%. The school earned 597 points out of a possible 800 points from eight components.
Only two other schools earned over 70% of the total points possible, with both (Dr NH Jones, Eight Street Elementary) earning approximately 73% of a possible 800 points.
Two of the top performers, West Port High School and Forest High School, both nearly eclipsed the 600-point mark. Despite their relatively high scores, both high schools earned “B” grades because they were evaluated over 10 components, or 1,000 points.
The three lowest-performing schools were the Oakcrest Elementary School, Ocali Charter High School, and McIntosh Area School, with the first two earning “D” grades and the third earning the sole “F” in the district. McIntosh Area School was evaluated on two components, scoring 50 out of 200 possible points, or 25%.
To read the complete list of school and district grades, visit the Florida School Accountability Reports webpage through the Florida Department of Education website and download the “School Grades” Excel file.
Before the test scores were released last week, Ocala-News.com reported that Marion County School District test scores consistently ranked at the bottom for every subject and every grade that participated in this year’s Florida Assessment of Student Thinking test series.