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Failing Public Schools Increase, FCAT Cited

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TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ― Fears about school grades under a tougher grading formula came true Friday morning when the state finally released ratings for public schools.

Miami-Dade has 26 F schools this year, compared to five the year before. Broward, which had no F schools last year, has nine this year, according to grades based on student scores from FCAT.

The number of A schools in Broward dropped from 157 last year to 121 this year. In Miami-Dade, there were 141 A schools, down from 179 last year.

Of the five Miami-Dade schools that had F's last year, four improved their grade, including Miami Edison Senior High, which had been an F-school for five years.

''This is a monumental day for our school,'' co-principal David Moore said of Edison's D grade in an interview with the Miami Herald. ``It's a validation of the tremendous work we've been doing and our kids rose to the occasion.''

Throughout Florida, 1,472 schools got an A, six more than the previous year.

There had been concerns this year that the number of A schools could decrease, and that the number of F schools could increase, because of two new factors in how schools are graded.

This year, the formula also includes the percentage of students working on grade level in science and whether the worst math students improve.

Overall, 49 percent of Miami-Dade schools maintained their letter grade and 42 percent decreased, school officials said. Of the 322 schools that received grades, 47 percent have been rated an A or a B for the past three years.

Miami Jackson Senior High, Lenora B. Smith Elementary and Nathan B. Young Elementary also raised their grades, making Miami Central Senior High the only school in the county to receive consecutive F grades. Central has been an F school since 2004.

In Broward, four of this year's nine F schools had previously received the failing grade: Arthur Ashe Middle, Larkdale Elementary, Sunland Park Elementary and Smart School Institute, a charter school.

Though the annual rating of public schools is typically released in mid-June, the process was delayed because of errors in scoring the third-grade reading portion of the 2006 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

To Access School Grades Click Here

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