What does 2018 schools report card tell us?

Some takeaways: Prior struggles, income matter

Here are five takeaways from the A-to-F grades given to Florida’s more than 3,200 public schools and 67 school districts this week.

1. Schools that have struggled often continue

to struggle. Campuses with lots of students who score poorly on state tests — the key factor in grade calculations — sometimes earn good grades but their progress often is fragile, with gains made one year wiped out the next. Ivey Lane Elementary in Orange County, for example, earned an F in 2015, then climbed to a D and celebrated when its grade jumped to a B in 2017. This year, though, it is an F-rated school again.

The new F was disappointing, said Cynthia Harris, whose grandson attends Ivey Lane and who serves on the school’s advisory council.

Still, Harris said her grandson will remain at Ivey Lane. “They have great teachers. They have a great principal,” Harris said. “I’m positive that this is going to be a better school year.” 2. Family income often

matters. As has been true

“I know the history of Rock Lake and the history of success they’ve had. I don’t want to be the guy who got the B.” Rock Lake Middle Principal Jordan Rodriguez

since the report cards were first released in 1999, the schools with the worst grades typically serve the largest numbers of students living in poverty and still learning English. Those children, on average, struggle the most on Florida’s math, reading, science and social studies tests.

Orange’s new OCPS Academic Center for Excellence — which sits in Parramore, one of Orlando’s poorest neighborhoods — earned a D this year, its first in operation. Jones High School and Westridge Middle School, which got Ds this year, too, also serve low-income neighborhoods,

as do Ivey Lane and the two other Orange schools that earned Fs this year. Pine Crest Elementary in Sanford, which also serves many kids living in poverty, got another D this year as well.

Overall, though, the schools in Seminole County, the region’s wealthiest, are among Central Florida’s best-rated, and the district is the only A-rated one locally this year.

3. Always an A. For a few schools, earning top grades really is just par for the course. Rock Lake Middle School near Longwood has been an A-rated campus every year since 1999. The Seminole school is the only one in Central Florida with that 20-year track record and one of just 18 schools statewide. Schools that have As or improve a grade earn an extra $100 per student from the state.

“I know the history of Rock Lake and the history of success they’ve had,” said Principal Jordan Rodriguez, who has been in charge for three years. “I don’t want to be the guy who got the B.”

A few years ago, the school just barely made its A, prompting administrators

to shift teaching assignments and beef up lessons in subjects where students weren’t doing as well. Historically, Rock Lake has served mostly well-off families, but Rodriguez said that has changed in recent years, with 41 percent of his students now qualifying for the school lunch program, an indicator of family poverty. That is still a far lower rate than at more struggling schools where often nearly every child gets a free or subsidized lunch.

The “secret to the success of Rock Lake,” he said, is that it is viewed as a “destination school” for teachers and faces little staff turnover.

4. For the schools with Ds and Fs, the stakes have

gotten higher. Schools with very low grades have always faced extra state scrutiny, but a 2017 state law and its “Schools of Hope” provision upped the consequences, giving them fewer years to improve. And if they don’t, the districts must close the troubled campus, hire an outside management company or let a charter school — a privately funded public school — take over. Pine Crest in Seminole is in that process but in March the school district was granted another year to manage the school’s turnaround on its own. Orange has several low-rated schools that could be facing those consequences soon. District administrators refused to discuss school grades this week, however.

5. The grades are viewed politically, always. Since former Gov. Jeb Bush helped create them, the A-to-F grades have been steeped in political arguments about public education and reform. This year is no different.

Gov. Rick Scott, who is running for U.S. Senate, announced the grades Wednesday touting more As and Bs in a press release and saying they were proof “our years of historic investment” had paid off.

“Grades up in election year are not a coincidence. It is called politicians reelection campaign,” tweeted the Broward County chapter of the Badass Teachers Association, a “voice for public education.”