Sarasota High Schools Earn 'A' and 'B' Grades

Sarasota high schools are above average when it comes to the state's high school assessment tests.

Pine View — the county's gifted and talented school — and high schools both received an "A," while , and and earned  "B"s for the 2010-2011 school year.

The Florida Department of Education released grades for high schools today based on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, graduation rates, number of students taking advanced-placement courses and passing advanced-placement exams and other indicators of student readiness for college.

Eight hundred points are weighted for the assessment test scores, while 800 points are given to the remaining factor.

Schools are penalized a full grade if certain subgroups of students do not perform at required levels.

The graduation rate of at-risk students must increase and the reading score gains for the lowest-performing 25 percent of the student population must increase by a specified amount for schools to earn an "A," regardless of their overall point scores.

A school must earn 1,050 points or higher to qualify for an "A." The scores for the Sarasota high schools are as follows:

Booker                                          1,143

Pine View                                      1,528                           

Riverview                                      1,163

Sarasota Military Academy              1,152

Sarasota                                       1,199

Suncoast Polytechnical High School received an "A," based on FCAT scores but the additional 800-point calculation did not apply, because SPHS did not have a graduating class in 2010-2011, according to .

Sarasota County Executive Director of High Schools Steve Cantees noted that a number of important academic performance gains were made at the county’s high schools last year.

• Most high schools have a higher percentage of students participating and performing in advanced coursework.  The comprehensive non-charter schools have continued to improve performance in these courses along with increased participation.

• The percent of at-risk students graduating increased significantly at SHS.

• The percent of students demonstrating high performance in reading and mathematics has increased at most high schools.

“We have made some remarkable progress in the past year, especially considering the severe reduction in resources the district has experienced in recent years,” Cantees said in a press release.

Overall, the Sarasota County School District has maintained an A grade every year that state grades have been assigned.

The high school grades from the 2009- 2010 school year and the 2010-2011 school years are as follows:

School                               2010   2011

Booker High School

A

        B

Pine View School

A

        A

Riverview High School

B

        B

Sarasota High School

B

        B

Sarasota Military Academy

A

        B

Suncoast Polytechnical High

B

        A