M-D schools outperform state

Education Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Miami-Dade County Public Schools has outperformed the state in percentage of schools rated “A” and “B”, according to school performance grades released by the Florida Department of Education in mid-July.

“Miami-Dade’s school performance grades demonstrate the high quality of teaching and academic enrichment in classrooms across the school district,” said Superintendent of Schools Alberto M. Carvalho. “Even as accountability standards continue to change, our students and schools turned in strong and impressive results. I applaud the creativity of our instructional staff and the academic focus of our students.”

With the implementation of the new school grading scale this year, the percentage of “A” rated schools in Florida for the school year just ended plunged by thirteen percentage points. However, 30 percent of all Miami-Dade schools received “A” ratings for the year, compared to just 23 percent statewide, outperforming other large Florida districts, including Broward, Hillsborough, and Duval. M-DCPS also received higher ratings than the state and these counties when examining the percentage scoring “A” and “B”; and when combined across “A”, “B”, and “C” ratings.

M-DCPS outpaced schools statewide in the percentage receiving “A” ratings by each school type, with senior high schools and combination grade schools performing exceptionally well – 25 percent of elementary schools, compared to 21 percent statewide, 27 percent of middle schools, compared to 25 percent statewide, 31 percent of senior high schools, compared to 22 percent statewide and 42 percent of combination grade schools, compared to 33 percent statewide.

Additionally, lower percentages of M-DCPS schools received “F” ratings than schools statewide. Five schools: Arcola Lake Elementary, Holmes Elementary, Jesse J. McCrary Elementary, Citrus Grove Middle and Redland Middle improved their grade from an “F” to a “C”, and Shadowlawn Elementary moved from “F” to a “B”.