BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
It was an A for Clay, a B for Union and a C for Bradford when the state released district and school grades earlier this week.
Following last year’s transition, the state testing system focuses on progress monitoring rather than a single, high-stakes test at the end of the year. Florida’s Assessment of Student Thinking, or the FAST test, replaced with the prior test with three exams taken at the beginning, middle and end of year.
According to the Florida Department of Education, “FAST is a progress monitoring system that provides teachers, students and parents real-time, immediate and actionable data at the beginning, middle and end of the school year to drive student improvement. Florida was the first state in the nation to establish a system using progress monitoring.”
The grades for the 2022-23 school year will carry no negative consequences for schools in the first year. Instead, they will serve as a baseline to compare future years. However, improving a previous grade may result in school recognition or exiting turnaround status.
Schools and districts will now use their 2022-23 baseline grades from the FAST assessment to make changes in instructional practices that will lead to better outcomes for students, according to DOE.
“These school grades serve as a baseline for districts and provide a starting point for future achievement,” said Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. “I look forward to seeing schools rise to the occasion as they continue to provide Florida students a first-rate education.”
In implementing the new system, the legislature required that the initial school grading scale for 2022-23 informational baseline school grades be set so that the percentage of schools that earn an A through F is statistically equivalent to the 2021-22 school grades results.
Each local district, Bradford, Clay and Union maintained the same district grade in 2023 as 2022, but there were some changes among the individual school grades.
School grades
Bradford
Achieving 42% of total possible points, Starke Elementary School earned a C in 2023, which was down from a B the year before.
Bradford Elementary School achieved 43% of the points, which includes points for English, math and science performance. The school also earned a C, but this was an improvement over last year’s D.
Lawtey Elementary School jumped two grades to earn a B in 2023. The school achieved 59% of total possible points to improve from a D. A few more percentage points would have been enough for an A.
Middle and high schools also receive points in other categories, including social studies, performance in accelerated coursework and graduation rate.
Bradford Middle School achieved 39% of possible points, which was only enough for a D, down from a C in 2022. The school was just one percentage point away from another C.
Bradford High School achieved 51% of possible points, which was enough to maintain its prior C grade.
English and science were the lowest scores at most school, except for the high school, which had lower English and math scores.
Union
Lake Butler Elementary School achieved 56% of possible points, earning a B for 2023. This was down from an A the year before.
Lake Butler Middle School maintained its C with 54% of possible points. It was a few points from earning a B.
Union County High School was even closer to an A, but feel just short earning another B.
The school had higher scores in math and science.
Clay
With 57% of points, Keystone Heights Elementary School also earned a high B. This was the second B in row.
McRae Elementary School raised its grade to an A, achieving 67% of possible points.
Keystone Heights Junior/Senior High School also raised its grade to an A with 67% of possible points.
The highest achievement among the schools was in math and science.
