Two County Schools Earn Top Grades From The State

Two High Schools in Manatee County earned top grades in the Florida Department of Education's High School Accountability Grades released today.

Manatee High School and Manatee School for the Arts earned A grades for the 2010-2011 school year and Southeast High School raised its grade from a D to a B.

The schools received the following grades and scores:

High School                                   2010-11          

Bayshore High School                          C                

Manatee High School                           A                

Palmetto High School                           D                

Southeast High School                         B                

Lakewood Ranch High School              B               

Braden River High School                     B                

Manatee School for the Arts                 A               

Three of the district’s seven high schools  — Southeast, Lakewood Ranch and Braden River — would have earned A grades, but had their grades dropped to a B because they did not meet all of the criteria relating to “at-risk” students' performance.

Florida’s High School Accountability system grades schools based on student performance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), their ability to graduate students, to increase student participation and performance in advanced coursework, and to better prepare students for college and careers. Under the requirements, 50 percent of a high school’s grade is based on the performance of their students on the FCAT, and the remaining 50 percent is based on factors that include:

• The school’s graduation rate.
• The performance and participation of students in Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Dual Enrollment, Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE), and industry certification.
• Students preparation for college based on scores from the SAT, ACT, or College Placement Test.
• The high school graduation rate of at-risk students.
• Growth or decline in these data components from year to year.

Manatee District officials are analyzing the reasons certain schools lost a letter grade.

Braden River High earned enough points to be an A school, but its lowest performing students did not make required gains of 50% or above in reading and math.

Both Southeast and Lakewood Ranch High earned enough points to be an A school, but did not have a high enough at-risk graduation rate. The state requires an at-risk graduation rate of 75% to be an A school.

Palmetto High earned enough points to be a C school, but its lowest performing students did not make gains of 50% or above in reading.

“We see many positive signs in these results and we look forward to continuing our efforts to insure that all of our schools and students perform to their full potential,” said Tim McGonegal, superintendent for Manatee County schools.

Across the state, high schools increased in the number and percent of schools achieving high marks for the 2010-11 school year. Results show 78 percent of the state's high schools earned either an "A" or "B" grade, an increase from 71 percent last year.

Of Florida's 474 graded public high schools in the 2010-11 school year:

• 147 earned an "A" (31 percent), compared to 145 schools last year.
• 224 earned a "B" (47 percent), compared to 188 schools (40 percent) last year.
• 72 earned a "C" (15 percent), compared to 69 schools last year.
• 25 earned a "D" (5 percent), compared to 57 schools (12 percent) last year.
• 6 earned an "F" (1 percent), compared to 11 schools (2 percent) last year.