State of Florida releases annual school grades. See how Alachua County schools were graded.
The Florida Department of Education on Monday released its annual grades for districts and schools in the state. Amid concerns about specific schools, Alachua County Public Schools fared pretty well, receiving a "B" grade overall for the 2022-2023 school year. The district received a "B" in 2022, and an "A" in 2019.
Lake Forest Elementary School received a "D," its fourth failing grade since 2018. If it receives less than a "C" on the next report — expected to come in the summer — the district will have to hire an external operator to run the school. Idylwild Elementary, which had received three consecutive "D" grades in recent years, was bumped up to a "C," meaning the district will not have to move forward on hiring an external operator for that school.
At a Dec. 6 workshop held by the district, state officials said they were concerned with the status of numerous schools in Alachua County.
"We are losing sleep over Metcalfe Elementary, Rawlings Elementary and Chester Shell Elementary," said Sandy Brusca, the regional executive director for the Bureau of School Improvement. "Those three are keeping us up at night. We are concerned."
This year, the State Board of Education adopted new a progress monitoring system for schools called Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) The FDOE also developed a new test called Florida's Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST).
"Unlike end-of-year high stakes testing, FAST is a progress monitoring system that provides teachers, students and parents real-time, immediate and actionable data at the beginning, middle and end of the school year to drive student improvement," according to an FDOE news release. "Florida was the first state in the nation to establish a system using progress monitoring."
See how schools in the district stack up:
More: Alachua County educators disappointed with proposed $50K raise for superintendent
Elementary schools
Littlewood - B
W. A. Metcalfe - F
Joseph William - C
Alachua - C
Archer - B
Carolyn Beatrice Parker - B
Chester Shell - D
Myra Terwilliger - C
Idylwild - C
Glen Springs - B
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - D
Hidden Oak - A
Kimball Wiles - A
Lawton M. Chiles - A
Meadowbrook - A
Newberry - C
C. W. Norton - C
Stephen Foster - C
William S. Talbot - B
The One Room School House Project - B
Micanopy Area Cooperative School, Inc. - B
Caring & Sharing Learning School - B
Expressions Learning Arts Academy - A
Alachua Learning Academy Elementary - A
Healthy Learning Academy Charter School - A
Boulware Springs Charter - A
Alachua Virtual Instruction Program (district provided ) - I
Middle schools
Abraham Lincoln - B
Howard W. Bishop - B
Westwood - C
A. L. Mebane - C
Fort Clarke - C
Kanapaha - B
Alachua Learning Academy Middle - A
Resilience Charter School Inc. - I
High schools
Gainesville - B
Newberry - B
Santa Fe - B
Professional Academy Magnet at Loften - A
Eastside - C
F. W. Buchholz - A
Combination schools
Hawthorne Middle/High School - C
High Springs Community School - A
Oak View Middle School - B
Micanopy Academy - A
Alachua ESchool (Virtual Franchise) - I
P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School - A
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida releases annual school grades. See how Alachua County fared
