Insights into Leon County Schools modest gains in state exams

Leon County students made a 1% gain on the state's English Language Arts exams, and a 2% gain on the math assessments. Despite the small number, it signifies something else for the district: a sense of academic normalcy from the pandemic.

"I am so proud of our students and extremely grateful for our amazing teachers. Our students are getting back on track academically, post-pandemic," Superintendent Rocky Hanna said.

"We are starting to see our students perform better on the progress monitoring," he said.

While there are notable achievements at certain schools in the district, and across the state, the challenge to achieve higher proficiency remains evident through post pandemic struggles with chronic absenteeism and reduced state funding.

The Florida Assessment of Student Thinking was introduced last year to monitor student progress, with three exams administered throughout the school year for math and ELA; at the beginning to provide a baseline, at the end of the second nine weeks, and a final time at the end of the school year.

It was not possible to compare results from the 2023 FAST results to the previous year's Florida State Assessment results due to a change in scoring metrics, so proficiency gains were unable to be accurately analyzed. However, this year's results can be assessed to determine improvement, and growth among the district's students.

Only 53% of students in grades 3-10 are performing on grade level in literacy across the state, a 4% increase from the 2023 school year. Leon County Schools gained 1% in reading, with 52% of its students performing at grade level.

Across the state, 55% of third to eighth graders are performing at grade level in math, a 4% increase from last year. In Leon County Schools, 54% of third to eighth graders are performing at grade level in math, just shy of the statewide average.

Here's how local schools fared

A majority of Leon County third graders performed better this year on the statewide assessment. On the literacy assessment, 55% performed at or above grade level, and 60% passed the math exam, a 3% gain on both exams from last year's results.

"Some of our schools are showing record levels of achievement and we are growing stronger each year and every year," Hanna said.

One of those schools is Gilchrist Elementary.

At the school, 89% of third graders passed the ELA exam, a 15% gain from last year, and 92% passed the math exam, a 10% gain.

In contrast, 28% of Sabal Palm Elementary's third graders are reading at grade level, a 4% drop from last year's rate, and the lowest in the district.

For school's showing dismal results, Hanna said the district will continue to support its most vulnerable students through post-pandemic influences like chronic absenteeism, academic regression and mental health issues among students.

"We're going to continue to keep some support systems in place. It's going to take some time to fully recover and we're hoping our graduation rates will rise back up to 90%," Hanna said. "We experienced a little more academic regression than the state because the majority of our students were not in school."

Passing the 10th grade ELA exam is crucial to receive a high school diploma, and 70% of students at both SAIL and Chiles high schools did just that. The score represents a 1% gain for SAIL and a 4% gain for Chiles.

However, students at Godby and Rickards high schools struggled, with less than half of 10th graders at both schools performing at grade level in reading. Only 35% of students at Godby passed the state ELA exam, and 44% at Rickards.

School of Arts and Sciences on Thomasville Road was the highest performing charter school in the district with 76% of its third graders passing the ELA exam, a 23% gain from last year.

Third graders at its affiliate location at The Centre on North Monroe Street, had the highest percentage of students pass the math exam at 68%, a 6% gain from last year.

For those who wish to see scores for other schools visit the Florida Department of Education website for more.

A look at last year: State Assessment scores are in: Here's how Leon County students performed

Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com . Follow her on Twitter/X: @AlaijahBrown3

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Insights into Leon County Schools modest gains in state exams