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Schools' scores rise, but grades don't
By ROBERT KING © St. Petersburg Times, published May 31, 2001
Although the county's overall grade point average rose for the second straight year, Superintendent John Sanders and some of his principals scratched their heads Wednesday at a grading system that sometimes seems to defy logic. Take Westside Elementary, for example. Last year, Westside earned an A under Gov. Jeb Bush's accountability system. This year, its scores went up on all three sections of the test and all of them were above the state average. Yet this year Westside is saddled with a C. Take Chocachatti Elementary. Chocachatti had the highest scores in the county in math and writing. It had the second best score in reading. Yet Chocachatti was nailed with a C while four other elementary schools with lower average scores got A's. Take Fox Chapel Middle. After getting an A last year, Fox Chapel improved in reading and math, held steady in writing and surpassed the state average in each case. Still, it dropped to a B. For Westside, Chocachatti and Fox Chapel, the high average scores didn't matter as much as having one or two or maybe as many as four more students score at the bottom rung in reading this year compared with last. Sanders said such a grading system makes no sense. "I just feel it brings into question the validity of putting a grade on the performance of a school and then giving funding to the school for their performance," Sanders said. "Something's wrong." Near misses aside, there was generally much cause for celebration around Hernando County. At the elementary level, four of the 10 schools -- Brooksville, Pine Grove, Spring Hill and Suncoast -- earned A's. Eastside Elementary became only the second school in the county to earn a D. And the other elementary schools took C's. All four middle schools -- Parrott, Powell, West Hernando and Fox Chapel -- earned B's. Until now, Parrott, Powell and West Hernando had never gotten a grade other than a C. At the high schools, there was no such break in the logjam. Hernando, Central and Springstead received the same grade they've gotten the previous two years -- C's. On the whole, Hernando County's grade point average rose to 2.6 on a 4.0 scale. That's up from 2.4 last year and 2.1 in 1999, when the grading system began. School districts around the state showed similar improvement. This year there were no F's in Florida, fewer D's, more B's and nearly the same number of A's. But other school districts statewide are reporting similar quirks in the system. Quirks aside, the state's report card day has a dramatic effect on schools. At Brooksville Elementary, which scored its first A, principal Sue Stoops could barely speak after a Times reporter gave her the news by phone. She put the reporter on hold and made an announcement over the school's public address system. "We are just so thrilled," said Stoops. "These teachers just deserve this so much. They have just worked their hearts out. And the kids have. And we have had so much support from our parents." At Parrott Middle School, principal Marvin Gordon was overjoyed that his school managed a B. "I think it's very important because it convinces us that we can do it, which we have proven." Both Gordon and West Hernando principal Ken Pritz said it was difficult to tell whether their new cash-incentive plan for students played a part in their higher letter grades. At Eastside, news that the school received a D hit hard. Only one other county school -- Moton Elementary in 1999 -- has received a D. No county school has been hit with an F. Eastside principal John Finney was hoping the school might squeak by, even though its scores dropped this year in math and writing. But Eastside was done in by the math test, where 41 percent of the fifth-graders scored a 1 on a scale of 1 to 5. Like some of the other schools, Eastside was just an eyelash from a higher grade. Had one or two students managed a 2 in math, Eastside could have earned a C. Finney planned to scan the results to see if the school has any basis for an appeal that would raise the grade. But his staff and students face the dismal prospect of being tabbed as the county's only D school. "You know that schools don't want that label on them," Finney said. "And we are certainly going to work as hard as we can to see that removed." At Chocachatti, principal Michael Tellone didn't believe it when he was first told the school had received a C. "What? You're pulling my leg," he said. On the writing test, which is measured on a scale of 1 to 6, Chocachatti was the only school in the county with an average score of better than 4. The state average was 3.4. In math, Chocachatti's average score of 344 was 30 points above the state average. Its 319 in reading was 21 points above the state average. Few thought Chocachatti could receive anything other than an A. But it was snagged in two bizarre quirks of the system. To get an A or B, schools can't see any rise from one year to the next in the number of students at the bottom level scores on the reading exam. Last year, Chocachatti had 15 percent of its fourth-graders score at Level 1, where Level 5 is the highest. This year, only 14 percent scored at Level 1. That was a slight improvement. But there was a catch. If a school has less than 30 students at Level 1 (Chocachatti had about 16), the state requires it to hold its ground at both Level 1 and Level 2. Chocachatti couldn't meet that standard and was relegated to a C. Under the other standard, it would have earned a B. It still would have missed an A because it had about seven fewer students score at least at Level 3 on the exam. The complexities are dizzying. But Tellone is left with the highest scores in the county but a C on his school report card. "This whole grading thing is bogus," he said.
* * * Click here to search the Florida Department of Education's 2000-2001 School Accountability Report
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