Polk County takes C grade in state report as 32 schools make improvements

Polk County Public Schools received a C grade in a report issued Wednesday by the Florida Department of Education.

Though the state report listed only grades, the Polk County school district reported falling just one percentage point short of a B grade in an emailed response to The Ledger.

School grades may incorporate up to 12 components, with five based on achievement in English/language arts, math, science and social studies. The state also measures overall learning gains, gains of the lowest 25% of students, middle school acceleration, graduation rate and college and career acceleration, the report said.

Each component counts for up to 100 points in the overall calculation. The points are added, and then the total is divided by the maximum number of possible points to determine the percentage earned.

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Florida’s Board of Education set the following grade scale for this year’s assessment:

• A, 64% of points or greater
• B, 57% to 63%
• C, 44% to 56%
• D, 34% to 43%
• F, 33% or less.

Polk County scored 56%, the district reported.

Polk also ascended from 55 ^th place statewide last year to 49th this year, the district said.

Polk County was among 17 districts to earn C grades for the 2023-24 school year, out of Florida’s 67 counties. The department reported A grades for 22 districts and B grades for 26, with none receiving D or F grades. The state assigned incomplete grades to Jefferson and Taylor counties, both in the Panhandle.

“I’m excited that our students continue to make academic gains, and these latest school grades prove this,” Superintendent Fred Heid said in the emailed summary. “Most importantly, there has been substantial growth in student proficiency within many key subject areas, including reading, math, science, and social studies.”

32 Polk schools improved their grades

The district provided a chart showing that Polk County exceeded the statewide gains in six of nine categories: geometry, fifth-grade science, eighth-grade science, biology, American history and civics.

Heid noted that Polk County had no F schools for the second consecutive year. The number of D schools has declined from 12 in 2022-23 to seven. He wrote that five schools rated D this year would have received C grades under the previous scoring method.

The state report did not reveal grades for individual schools, but it listed school grades by district. In Polk County, the largest segment schools — 47% — received C grades. The department assigned A grades to 18%, B to 29% and D to 6%. No schools in Polk received F grades.

Polk County Public Schools provided a list of 32 schools that improved their grades this year. Five schools jumped from B to A grades: Alturas Elementary, Chain of Lakes Elementary, Dundee Elementary, Rochelle School of the Arts and Scott Lake Elementary.

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Meanwhile, 19 Polk County schools rose from C to B grades, and eight vaulted from D to C grades.

Three schools improved by two levels, the district reported: Jewett Middle Academy Magnet and Oscar J. Pope Elementary from C to A, and Laurel Elementary from D to B.

Omitting charter schools , Polk County saw six more A schools and 15 more B schools this year, the district reported, with 16 fewer C schools and five fewer D schools. School districts pass along state funding to charter schools but have no authority over their operations.

“I want to say thank you to our amazing team of dedicated educators and school staff who are making this steady improvement possible each year,” Heid said. “We are definitely heading in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go. We will get there and overcome any obstacles along the way if we continue to devote ourselves to making a positive impact on each student’s life.”

The Polk County schools receiving D grades are Crystal Lake Elementary, North Lakeland Elementary School of Choice, Crystal Lake Middle School, Stambaugh Middle School, McLaughlin Academy of Excellence, Auburndale High School and Kathleen High School.

53% of schools in Florida improved or maintained an A grade

Statewide, 38% of schools earned A grades, compared with 32% a year earlier. The portion of B schools rose from 25% to 27%, while the state reported percentage-point declines of 4% for C schools, 2% for D schools and 0.5% for F schools.

Of the 3,347 schools assessed, 53% either improved from last year or maintained A grades, the state reported. Another 37% of schools had unchanged grades, and 10% dropped. Among schools rated D or F last year, 85% improved their grades.

The number of D and F schools has decreased by 80% since 2015, the report said.

Florida altered its process for grading schools in recent years, moving from scores on standardized tests to progress monitoring, measured by performance on Florida’s Assessment of Student Thinking. The Department of Education first released grades based on the new evaluations for the 2022-23 school year.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13 .

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County takes C grade in state report as 32 schools make improvements