The Florida Department of Education on Monday afternoon released public school and district grades. Polk County Public Schools trailed much of the rest of the Florida — earning a C overall and ranking 56th out of the 64 districts that were assigned scores, although many individual schools improved.
Polk County Public Schools Superintendent Fred Heid on Tuesday publicly pushed back against the state and a system he calls “flawed.”
The grades show 27 out of 36 Lakeland elementary schools maintaining the grade they had last year, with six schools improving and three losing ground.
Nine of Lakeland’s 11 middle schools maintained their grades from last year. Lake Gibson Middle School improved from a D to a C, while Crystal Lake Middle School dropped from a C to a D.
Lakeland’s six traditional high schools had mixed results. McKeel Academy of Technology maintained an A, while Lakeland and George Jenkins Senior High schools dropped from a B to a C. Lake Gibson and Tenoroc High schools maintained a C and Kathleen Senior High School was marked incomplete. That typically happens when a school has not tested at least 95% of its students, school district officials said.
The Polk County school district as a whole maintained a C grade for the second year in a row. Grades were not given in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of statewide testing. In 2018 and 2019, Polk received a B.
The grades were based on test scores taken last school year, along with graduation rates and the number of students participating in accelerated or career programs.
“These school grades serve as a baseline for districts and provide a starting point for future achievement,” said Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. “I look forward to seeing schools rise to the occasion as they continue to provide Florida students a first-rate education.”
State education officials said “there will be no negative consequences for schools or districts as a result of the 2022-23 informational baseline school grades.”
Superintendent applauds increased A and B schools, but calls system ‘flawed’
Heid said the district has a lot to celebrate, but there are also opportunities for improvement. He pointed out that there were eight F schools in the county when he took over in June 2021. Now there are no district-run F schools. There are 31 fewer D schools than when he began. In 2020-21, PCPS had three A schools and now there are nine. During that same time period, there were seven B schools and now there are 12.
At a school board work session Tuesday afternoon, Heid described some of the problems with the grading system, including a state mandate that moved the goalposts for success. The public criticism is unusual for a superintendent, particularly at a time when the governor is moving to oust county leaders who oppose him.
Heid explained that the state elevated the cutoff scores of what constitutes A through F, contrary to what was recommended by the educator panel on which he sits. The state legislature mandated that there could only be the same amount of each grade as there was last year.
“Ratcheting up the accountability in a year when learning gains were absent — again, it made it tougher to be on grade level in reading and mathematics this year,” Heid said.
Another factor that hurt many schools in the state was the exclusion of learning gains — which were removed from the formula because the test changed and there was nothing to compare it to from the previous year.
Heid added that if charter school numbers are pulled out, regular Polk County public schools statistics increase fairly dramatically. He pointed to the school readiness rates of pre-schoolers.
“The state average is 49.2% readiness rates. When we look at Polk County as a whole, including everyone, not just Polk County schools, we are sitting currently at 43.1%,” Heid said. “However, when we just aggregated just Polk County Public Schools data, it looks like about 69%. Yes, so we’re very pleased to see that, so we’re excited about what’s coming and to see the rest of the data. It’s looking pretty good.”
Charter schools don’t have to adhere to the same strict standards that regular public schools do in terms of hiring certified teachers or having the state take over failing schools.
High schools
One of the data points that is factored into high school rankings is graduation rates.
While charter schools like McKeel Academy of Technology help Polk’s graduation rate, other charter schools — like alternative schools for at-risk populations — can pull down the district’s overall rate.
“For example, we have a charter school in our school district that has a 14% graduation rate,” Heid said. “As a result, when people look at the district’s overall graduation rate last year at 78%, if you were to pull that student population out of the numerator denominator, we’d go up to over 82% of the graduation rate.”
Tenoroc High School has a 68% graduation rate and he is working to bring that up.
He also talked about high school Algebra test rates being low. He pointed out that most students take the Algebra exam in the eighth grade and do well.
“High schools don’t get credit for that algebra component and the (end-of-course) passing rate and so that’s why it looks like high school algebra is not performing very well. They’re testing a very small population of students who do struggle with mathematics,” Heid said.
Middle schools
The overwhelming majority of Lakeland’s 11 middle schools maintained their grades from last year. Only two flipped positions: Lake Gibson Middle School improved from a D to a C, while Crystal Lake Middle School dropped from a C to a D.
Elementary schools
Six of Lakeland’s 36 elementary schools saw their grades rise over last year. Elementary progress is particularly exciting for educators because those students are just beginning their academic journeys. Their successes are often harbingers of progress to come.
The Lakeland elementary schools that improved were:
- Kathleen Elementary — D to C
- Winston Academy — C to A
- Sleepy Hill Elementary — C to B
- South McKeel Academy — B to A
- Wendall Watson Elementary — C to B
- And Socrum Elementary — D to C
The two elementary schools that went down were:
- Philip O’Brien — C to D
- North Lakeland Elementary School of Choice — C to D
School board members react
School Board members said they are proud of the hard work that teachers do every day.
School Board member Lisa Miller said the district is close to being a B district again and working toward that so-far elusive A.
“We are three points from a B, while including graduation rates from charter schools we don’t control,” Miller said. “The grading system is a moving target, and Polk is moving forward, headed to success for all kids. I think the true test of a successful district is what happens to students after they graduate. We must get students gainfully employed or prepared for and attending college.”
School Board member Rick Nolte, a critic of the board when he was running for office, said he wasn’t sure what the solution was.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to talk to a bunch of people over the holidays and see what their ideas are,” Nolte said following Tuesday evening’s School Board meeting. “I heard they changed the way they did things, like a horse in the middle of the stream. I’d like to know why they changed that. All the teachers I know are working so very, very hard.”
A series of strategies to improve results
Education policies often take many years to have effect. However, with the support of the school board, Heid has made a number of changes in the last two years including:
- Shifting principals and promoting assistant principals.
- Shifting school staff to provide better wrap-around services for students, including counselors, administrators, and social workers.
- Adding truancy officers to address the thousands of students who are chronically late or absent.
- Implementing new tutoring services for struggling students.
- Evaluating all reading and math programs to those that are research-based with a proven effect outcomes.
- Implementing a corrective reading program in targeted schools.
- Concentrating more resources for pre-kindergarten and early learning programs.
- Reviewing the master schedule to ensure efficient time use to maximize learning outcomes.
- Using federal grant dollars to pay for additional after school professional training for staff at targeted schools.
- Identifying high-performing staff in specific content areas to assist their peers.
- Creating a coaching program in partnership with Grand Canyon University to allow teachers to provide peer training while remaining in the classroom.
- Developing community liaisons in Lakeland to address the material needs of students.
For instance, Griffin Elementary School parents didn’t need to purchase school supplies this year — they were provided by the school’s business partners, Pharmaceutical Solutions and Services by McKesson and the Director of Operations, Tim Clark, and his team.
Two schools ‘persistently underperforming’
Two Lakeland Schools labeled as “persistently underforming” – meaning they have earned three grades lower than a C in at least three of the previous five years – maintained the same grade as last year. They are Crystal Lake Elementary and Griffin Elementary.
Crystal Lake Elementary School received a D for the second year in a row. In the last few years, the school has been remade into “A Community Partnership School” by adding a clinic for residents in need, business partnerships, tutoring and after school learning, It has consistently struggled since 2015. But under the original FCAT testing system, it earned an A in 2011. Test scores this year show 97% of the students at the school took FAST, with the majority failing English Language Arts, math and science.
Griffin Elementary School scored a C for the second year in a row.
One hundred percent of both schools’ students live at or below the poverty level, which studies have long shown impact grades.
According to the National Association of Secondary School Principals, students from low-income homes typically do poorly on tests because of a number of factors:
- Fewer resources at home to complete homework, study, or engage in activities that help equip them for success during the school day.
- Lack of access to computers, high-speed internet and other materials that can aid a student outside of school.
- Parents often working longer hours or multiple jobs, meaning they may not be available to assist their children with their schoolwork.
“These children can also have health issues stemming from a non-nutritional diet, homelessness, lack of food or the inability to receive medical treatment for illnesses,” the NAASP report reads. These factors often place more stress on a student, which can negatively impact the student’s ability to succeed in a school.
Because of their grades, both Griffin and Crystal Lake have been on school improvement plans, as required by Florida statute for schools that have had a grade of a D or an F. The plan includes evidence-based strategies for improvement, who will be responsible for that and how the outcome will be measured.
Griffin’s 2021-2022 school improvement plan included improving test scores using collaborative planning among teachers, having teacher coaches available, providing teacher training, and having students pair up in learning were part of their strategy. Officials also wanted to increase attendance by improving the school’s culture and environment.
Heid pointed to a number of factors for the C, including poverty rates, the number of ESOL students, the number of kindergarteners who start school not knowing the most basic of reading skills — the alphabet. Some aren’t potty trained.
“We’re changing that culture now,” Heid said. “I’m happy with the progress that we’ve demonstrated in a very difficult year to demonstrate progress. The data clearly shows we’re moving schools in the right direction.”
Success story: Winston Academy jumps two grades
Winston Academy of Engineering made the most improvement among the Lakeland schools, going from a C to an A. Eighty percent of its students are economically disadvantaged.
Lucas Wilkins was appointed principal of Winston Academy at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year and he credits his staff with the two-letter-grade improvement. He implemented changes by meeting with every member of the staff, from custodians to nutritionists to special area teachers to each grade level teacher, asking each of them what they needed for the students to be successful.
He said they created incentives for the students to read more books daily, including a point-based accelerated reader program. Wilkins instituted a “Golden Gears” reward system that parallels the reward system Winston and many schools have for good behavior. The students earn Golden Gears dollars for good grades, which they can use to shop at the Golden Gears store, supported by the school’s PTA. In addition, classes check each other’s scores in a good-natured competition — turning it into a game for the students.
“I’ll tell you this staff is absolutely amazing. And it’s not one person that has moved the school,” Wilkins said. “It’s all about all of us (in) lockstep thinking about our goals and what we needed to do together and enjoying it and celebrating the successes we have and talking about how we can make change in a positive way. So creating that positive culture about learning — I think it’s so important.”
Wilkins said he also provided some professional development in reading and math, and set learning goals for the students. He also asked each teacher to share with all their colleagues at staff meetings something they did that saw positive results.
“I think that’s really important that you hear from all teachers, even the ones with, you know, a year experience compared to the ones who’ve got 20 years of experience because I always say, ‘Don’t come to the table without a dish to pass,’ which basically means that everyone has to contribute something in order for all of us to grow,” Wilkins said. “So I think it’s really important that they understand and they buy into that kind of mindset, and I think they did and they understand the importance of making sure they’re all part of the success.”
Critics say testing coopts education and demoralizes students
The late Gov. Lawton Chiles began state testing during his term in the late 1990s, developing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. In 2001, former Gov. Jeb Bush then created a system that tied FCAT scores to school and district grades and teacher ratings and bonuses. Under that system, students at a failing school could use a scholarship or voucher to attend a better-performing public school.
In 2011, FCAT 2.0 was implemented, which modified the exam. In 2015, the state test was overhauled into a new test, meaning comparing those results to past years’ was an apples to oranges approach. Gov. Ron DeSantis changed it again last year, calling the test the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking – or FAST — and using a progress monitoring system throughout the year instead of just one exam.
Cutoff scores for what constitutes A through F have shifted over the years.
Winter Haven High School teacher Natalie Cole said “it is the same thing every time these test results come out or grades are assigned. It’s negative ‘beat up on public schools’ mentality. Frankly, most of the public doesn’t have an appetite for it any longer.”
Kathy Smith Barsotti, co-owner of Django & Friends Dixieland Emporium in Lakeland, described “one of the saddest things” she has ever heard. She was explaining a statue of Roman general Marc Antony to her then third-grade nephew and told him he would be learning about him in school.
“He told me, ‘I only learn to the test,” Barsotti said. “At the time he was going to Blake Academy. Six classes a day. Three hours of homework a night. No recess. No social skills … Eight years old and already burned out on school. It broke my heart.”
She said parents at the school pushed for recesses and less homework. His mother enrolled him in football, karate, and dancing.
“He is now at Lake Gibson. Where he used to struggle for ‘C averages’ he is now an A/B student, plays JV and Varsity football, placed 3rd at a countywide wrestling match and has a network of friends,” Barsotti said on Facebook. “He still has some social glitches but once the idea of learning to the test was expelled, the opportunity for actual learning increased.”
Longtime state testing critic and former Polk County School Board member Billy Townsend derided the grades, as he does each year.
“School grades are fraud,” Townsend said. “They are particularly fraud this year because of the new testing model. What is reality, if you actually care about test scores, is that Florida students collapse on test performance with age worse than any other state. The NAEP, the SAT, the ACT all show it. But no one actually cares what any of this useless ‘data’ even says. It’s a corrupt, political, relic of a dead test-obsessed model.”
A much older test is the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The NAEP a Congressionally mandated program that is overseen and administered by the National Center for Education Statistics. Also known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” NAEP has provided important information about how students are performing academically since 1969.
The same test is given to students throughout the country, although the exam’s format was updated in 2004. NAEP shows marginal improvement in Florida test scores over the last two decades.
In 2003, Florida’s fourth graders average scale score was 218 out of 500. In 2022, it was 225. The percentage of those same students at NAEP proficiency was 24% in 2003 and 30% last year.
NAEP scores also show that Florida’s reading proficiency drops when compared to other states the older a student gets. For instance, in 2011, Florida’s fourth grades ranked 14th out of 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Department of Defense schools. Their average score was 225 out of 500. By the eighth grade, those students are ranked 26th, with an average score of 266. Their senior year scores from 2019 were not available.
‘Moving target’ caps number of A and B schools
Among the Florida Department of Education’s comments about this year’s FAST reading scores was this: “The percentage of schools that earned an A, B, C, D or F are statistically equivalent to the 2021-22 grade results, as required by state law.”
In other words, the state moves the goalpost each year to ensure that a certain percentage of schools receive each grade — limiting the number of schools that can earn A, B or C and requiring at least some to score D or F.
Heid criticized state officials for that.
“I think that that’s a flawed approach, quite frankly,” said Heid, who once worked in the Florida Office of School Improvement as a bureau chief. “Are we increasing accountability for the sake of increasing accountability instead of doing what’s right? What I don’t believe in is creating a false narrative… simply because ‘we can’t have too many people rise.’ … We can’t keep moving the target.”
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It changed for all districts in the state. Our students did poorly compared to most districts.