Article published on January 30, 2012 by the Sun Sentinel.
“Imagine Charter School at Weston, one of Broward’s best performing public schools for nearly a decade, is near the top of new rankings out Monday for Florida’s public schools.
The popular, 900-student school is tied at No. 3 on a list of the state’s more than 1,800 elementary schools. The school district also had three schools in the Top 20 in the high school category.
Pompano Beach High ranked No. 13, a boost for a highly-regarded school that this month lost its A grade for not making enough gains among its lowest-performing students in reading.
Assistant Principal Lori Carlson called the ranking a much better representation of the magnet school’s standing.
‘It is enlightening,’ she said. ‘We don’t mind being on the top of those charts.’
The school rankings come a week after the state released its first-ever ranking of its 67 school districts. Broward County came in at No. 26.
The latest ranking lists schools in five categories: elementary, middle, high, combination elementary/middle and combination middle/high.
The school rankings are based on points earned in Florida’s school grading formula, which grades schools A to F. Many people don’t realize that schools also get numerical scores.
So for elementary and middle schools, the rankings are based on student performance and improvement on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. For high schools, they are based half on FCAT scores and half on other factors such as high school graduation rates and student success in advanced classes.
But these rankings concern some educators, who say it does not take into account how factors such as poverty can impact students’ academic performance.
‘School excellence must be measured in multiple ways,’ said Elizabeth Kennedy, principal of Bak Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, which is No. 4 among state middle schools. ‘For example, this ranking does not take into account our excellence in the arts. Comparing schools to one another also does not take into account the unique populations of each school.’
The state ranking database does list the percentage of poor children at each school, though that data was not part of the calculations. It shows that most of the struggling schools enroll a large percentage of youngsters from low-income families, though it also points out that some schools with lots of poor kids did well.
The new rankings were an idea promoted by Gov. Rick Scott and Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson.
‘Floridians care about education and it is critical that our students have access to world-class schools that will give them a pathway to a successful career,’ Scott said in a prepared statement. ‘Measuring each school’s performance helps gauge our progress toward that goal.’
The Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, called the rankings ‘misguided’ and said they mostly measured family income. . .
But Robinson said the state put out the rankings, which are based on already available data, to help the public help public education.
‘Having the data available in an easy-to-use format allows parents, educators, and business and community leaders to view the information and make decisions about how they can be involved in education decisions in their local communities,’ he said in a statement.”
[email protected] or 561-243-6642