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REBECCA CATALANELLOAlmost half of Pasco schools better their state grade. No school slips a notch. And high schools make great strides.
Eighty-three percent of Pasco County public schools brought home an A or B on the State Department of Education's school report cards released Wednesday.
In all, 22 schools saw their letter grades improve over the previous year, with 30 either maintaining last year's status or landing their first grades.
No schools fell a grade.
"We were expecting good scores, but these are pretty drastic numbers," said Chuck Rushe, the system's chief financial officer.
Pasco County high schools saw marked improvement, with Land O'Lakes and Mitchell joining River Ridge as the high schools receiving B's.
Pasco and Gulf highs traded in their D's for C's. So far, A's have eluded Pasco County high schools, but administrators were celebrating the progress.
"We're all much more savvy when it comes to the FCAT," said Land O'Lakes principal Ray Bonti, referring to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which the school grades are based on.
This is the fifth year that the state has evaluated schools based on their students' test scores.
The letter grades are derived from a numeric score that represents how students do on the reading, math and writing sections of the FCAT. It also considers the gains of the lowest-performing students from year to year, as well as the percentage of the school's students that took the exam.
Rushe said the district pressed to improve reading instruction last year by putting one literacy specialist in each high school and introducing targeted reading classes for students in middle school and ninth grade.
Land O'Lakes received the highest numeric score of all the high schools in the county, but because the state found the school tested only 91 percent of its students, the letter grade was docked to a B from what would have qualified as an A.
"I'm not sure that's accurate," Bonti said of the 91 percent figure, the lowest percentage in the county, according to the state's numbers. Bonti said the school would revisit testing records to double-check. Still, he said, "to be the highest high school scores in the county feels great."
At the elementary level, 91 percent of Pasco's schools took home an A or B, compared with 75 percent of the elementary schools in the state.
West Zephyrhills Elementary and Hudson Elementary jumped two letter grades, from C's to A's - the largest improvement of any of the schools in the county.
"We are all in shock," said a gleeful Emily Keene, principal at West Zephyrhills. Keene said that when she saw the grades on the State Department of Education's Web site (http://schoolgrades.fldoe.org) she announced it over the intercom for the enjoyment of teachers working this summer.
Keene credited the school's teachers for their focus on reading and writing instruction last year. An after-school program that attracted about 60 students also helped, she said.
"It was just a lot of hard work," Keene said. "I'm really proud of everyone."
Dade City's Cox Elementary received a D, making it the lowest-scoring school in the county.
But principal Leila Mizer said the grade does not tell the whole story: "If you were to look at the gains of my individual students, you would be very impressed."
With 97 percent of the students there qualifying for the federal free and reduced price lunch program, Cox students often come to school less academically prepared, Mizer said.
Studies have repeatedly shown that poverty, more than any other factor, hurts a student's academic performance.
"Those folks are working very hard out there to improve those scores," the district's Rushe said of Cox. The school began a number of programs last year designed to focus more intensely on reading and writing.
Mizer said that although she takes the grades in stride and tries to use them productively (this is the third year in a row the school has received a D), she thinks the process would be fairer if the grades factored in socioeconomic status.
But, she said, "We're not afraid of a challenge, and we will compete the way it is."
Of the other 18 county elementary schools where the majority of students come from impoverished homes, four received A's, 13 scored B's and one got a C, according to the district.
Of the two Pasco County charter schools that received grades, 289-student Dayspring Academy got an A, and Deerwood Academy a C. Though publicly funded, the district did not include grades for the charters in their overall look at county school performance.
The state's system of scoring schools and promoting students based on test scores is often criticized by those who think student achievement should not be measured solely by an exam.
"We're not looking at this as the end-all, but it is one more measurement," Rushe said. "It just happens to be the one that gets the most public scrutiny right now."
Schools that make specific gains will receive an award of $100 per student. A preliminary list released by the state Wednesday showed that 33 Pasco schools and Dayspring Academy would be eligible.
- Rebecca Catalanello covers education in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. Her e-mail address is rcatalanello@sptimes.com