cybersecdn- This is another bad situation for the Hillsborough County school system, which used to have a lot of schools that didn’t do well. There are more D and F schools in this district than in any other in the state, according to new figures from the Florida Department of Education.
There are fewer schools with these marks in this year’s unusual system, even in bigger counties like Miami-Dade and Broward. Comparing one year to the next is no longer possible because both the testing method and the expected level of learning changed. That’s why the state only cared about achievement and didn’t give credit for learning improvement like they usually do.
When you take out the privately run charter schools, Hillsborough has 32 schools with D’s or F’s. Because of long-term problems with hiring and student skills, one of the district schools, Just Elementary, has already been closed temporarily.
After this, in June, similar closures are planned for two more schools on the list: Adams Middle and Kimbell Elementary. According to an interview this week, Superintendent Van Ayres was determined to get every school above a D grade and help all of the kids reach proficiency, especially in reading. He said this after thinking about the new numbers.
The task at hand, however, is very difficult. The state’s classification says that just over half of the students at these 32 schools scored at Level 1 in English Language Arts last year. This means they have the lowest level of reading skills and will need “substantial support” to do well next year.
Literacy tests showed that just under 32% of children in the district were at Level 1. While Ayres was superintendent from June to now, he said, “Historically, proficiency has always been an area that has been a struggle.”
A Level 4 number means that a student is “proficient” according to the state, which means that they are “likely to excel in the next grade.”
“Below satisfactory” and “likely to need substantial support” are the words used to describe Level 2 students in their next year of school. Persons who took the Level 3 test and got “satisfactory” scores are thought to have passed the state exam. The state says that Level 5 students have “mastered” the material and are “likely to excel.”
Some of the 32 schools on the list have kindergarten readiness rates as low as 16%, which makes it hard for kids to learn how to understand what they read by the time they are in the third grade when they need to know how to do it to take their education further. Ayres said, “I can beat anyone in the state when it comes to our teachers.” The starting point is important, though.
In other school areas, though, kids aren’t ready for kindergarten at some schools. Most of Florida is poor, and last year all 67 school districts had to deal with the same problems, such as a new curriculum, new standards, and tests that were given three times instead of once a year.
Four schools in Pinellas County got a D grade, but none got an F. Hillsborough had a lot more schools with Ds and Fs than Pasco County did. However, Pasco County only had 14 schools with those grades while Hillsborough had 24. Only one school in Broward County got an F, while five schools in Miami-Dade County got Ds.
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