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JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEKSeven of the county's 10 earn A's, three others get B's, while middle and high schools muster C's from the state.
SPRING HILL - Principal Janet Dunleavy didn't cling to any illusions as she waited Tuesday for the release of this year's school report cards.
Deltona Elementary had seen its student population balloon from around 825 on the first day of classes to nearly 1,000 by the state standardized testing date. Close to 30 percent of the students were enrolled in special education.
Having failed to meet national standards for academic progress last year, Deltona stood to lose students through transfers to better-performing schools under the No Child Left Behind act.
Then Dunleavy got the results. Deltona earned an A in the state A-Plus plan, up from last year's B, and it made adequate progress under federal guidelines.
"We really analyzed the data, and we really looked at exactly where the students were having problems. We tried to target them with resource teachers and more small-group instruction," she said. "We are very happy."
Superintendent Wendy Tellone tried to extend that positive outlook to the results countywide, even as she acknowledged that some principals were less than pleased with their reports.
Seven of the district's 10 elementary schools earned A's, and the other three scored B's. All the middle and high schools received C's. Brooksville Elementary and Fox Chapel, Parrott and West Hernando middle schools dropped one grade from a year ago.
Only three schools, all elementary, made "adequate yearly progress" under No Child Left Behind. That means students from six low-income schools could be eligible for transfers under the federal law, although district officials are still struggling to determine what the rules require.
About 70 families requested transfers before the district's deadline, which was Friday.
"I'm very proud of all the schools," Tellone said. "They've all made progress, regardless of whether it's reflected" in the report cards.
Fox Chapel principal David Schoelles said he tries not to view the letter grade or progress report as either positive or negative. Rather, he said, the annual report must serve as a starting point as educators improve instruction.
"It really helps you focus in on the students that need help," Schoelles said. "It gives us a tool to self-analyze."
Still, the notion of a school earning an A but failing to make adequate progress might be confusing. Pine Grove Elementary principal David Dannemiller has faced that situation twice, and he said parents quickly understand the difference once he explains.
"It's really measuring two different things," he said.
The state A-Plus plan focuses heavily on improvement, while the federal No Child Left Behind act looks more at performance among student racial, social and economic groups.
If low-income schools, called Title I, do not achieve the federal standard for two consecutive years, their students can request to attend other schools that performed better. Six schools fit those criteria.
Federal programs supervisor Diane Dannemiller said she is investigating what that means, especially in light of direction from the state that seems to indicate that schools can offer new programs or transfer teachers rather than approve student moves.
"We will have to prioritize and organize those that applied," she said. "Now, we have to give them what the real choices will be."
Chocachatti Elementary principal Michael Tellone anxiously awaits the decision, which the superintendent said will come shortly.
Among the nearly 70 transfer requests, the majority asked to go to Chocachatti, a magnet school that accepts students by lottery. The school has its enrollment capped at 800, so there's no additional space for extra students.
"The rules keep changing on that," Michael Tellone said. "I'm kind of holding my breath a bit. I feel very strongly that it's not fair to take these kids and move them to the front of the (waiting list) line."
The School Board has not yet discussed policy as it relates to No Child Left Behind transfers.
Board members have strong views on the relative importance of the school grades and progress reports, though.
"I see them as additional pressure onto staff members," board member Gail David said. "The idea of increasing the quality of education is a very different issue from putting pressure on people based on FCAT scores."
She decried the loss of seemingly small things, such as recess at elementary schools, as a sad byproduct of the increasing attention paid to the test.
"Recess is where we learn how to play with one another. It's where we learn the rules of life," David said. "It's symbolic of the change that's going on."
Board member Jim Malcolm called the grading system unhealthy and noted that the performance of as few as two or three children on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test can cause a school grade to rise or fall. He offered Brooksville Elementary, which saw its grade rise from B to A last year on the backs of three student scores, as an example.
As for No Child Left Behind, he offered a more stinging rebuke.
"Even the (U.S. Department of Education) can't get it straight," Malcolm said. "How many times have they amended the implementation of that?"
Board chairwoman Sandra Nicholson was slightly more forgiving.
"Part of this whole thing is good because we need to be accountable, and every student needs to be given the chance to learn," she said.
The problem, Nicholson said, is that the system is not fair, because each state measures student performance differently. The system should stay, she said, but it should be fixed.
In the meantime, school leaders who received less positive results sought solace, while those who saw strong results cheered. Suncoast Elementary principal Jean Ferris dispatched a team to put the "A School" announcement on the school sign.
"It means that we put in a lot of hard work, and it does measure our instruction," Ferris said. "We have been working on the benchmarks, and the students have put in a lot of effort. It feels good to get that A."