Florida Department of Education releases school grade Accountability Report
The School District of Osceola County maintained its district grade of ‘B’ according to the Florida Department of Education school grade release, operationally called the Florida School Accountability Report, released Wednesday morning.
You can probably call it a B+ … or maybe even an A-.
The district collected 773 points across 12 data categories the DOE tracks, including achievement and learning gains in core subjects, middle school acceleration, graduation rate and college and career acceleration. With Monroe County earning 774 points — and getting an ‘A’ district grade — the data shows Osceola missed that elusive ‘A’ district grade by … just one point.
“Our research and accountability team is checking for accuracy,” said Osceola School Superintendent Dr. Mark Shanoff, likening it to a sports team using a challenge late in the game because … well, why not?
“We knew we were close (to earning an ‘A’) when everything was turned in (to the state). The state has a good process for this.”
Shanoff, who completed his third school year at the helm of Osceola’s schools last spring, said the state slightly bumped up the benchmarks needed for districts to earn an ‘A’ or ‘B’, and that the district would have earned that ‘A’ under the 2024-25 guidelines and showed an overall increase in percent of total possible points earned (62 to 64.%) over last year.
“I’m the one that ultimately is responsible. We’ve come so far in three years — 8,200 phenomenal people who’ve bought into the ‘Day One’ culture,” he said. “I’m sad I wasn’t able to deliver that extra point to validate their work, but I can’t help but be grateful for the progress that’s been made.
Earlier this week, SDOC touted district-wide academic gains in Language Arts in all grades 3-10 and mathematics gains in 3-8, many of them double-digit gains since 2023, when Shanoff took over.
“Those gains are bigger than the state as a whole, so I feel like we’re closing the gap and doing the right work, making good growth every single year,” Shanoff said. “This year we showed record achievement, record graduation rates and college and career acceleration rates. I see a lot of positives.
“And the end of the day I really appreciate how much our teachers and staff have gravitated to a much more accountable culture. We have the structure in place to really support student achievement. The data we see is very affirming to the community that we’re doing the right thing in how we’re educating our kids.”
Of the 75 county schools graded, 26 earned an ‘A’ (34.6%), 22 a ‘B’ and 24 a ‘C’.
The ‘A’s were earned by: Tohopekaliga High, Harmony Community, Narcoossee Elementary and Middle, St. Cloud Elementary and Middle, Bridgeprep Academy of St. Cloud, Four Corners Charter, Osceola Science Charter, Sports Leadership Arts Management (SLAM) Academy, Harmony Middle, Michigan Avenue Elementary, Reedy Creek Elementary (a ‘C’ to a ‘B’ to an ‘A’), Neptune Middle, Hickory Tree Elementary. Celebration K-8, Lakeview Elementary, Academir Prep of Championsgate, New Dimensions High, Professional and Technical High (PATHS), Osceola County School for the Arts, East Lake Elementary, NeoCity Academy, Canoe Creek K-8, Voyager K-8 and the Osceola Virtual School secondary franchise.
Lakeview, East Lake and Bridgeprep Academy all increased from a ‘C’ to an ‘A’.
Of the three schools that earned the ‘F’ and 2 ‘D’s, one is a traditional school (Highlands Elementary) and the other two (Florida Cyber Charter Academy, Virtual Preparatory Academy of Florida) are public charter schools operated by private groups.
Twenty of the 76 improved their school grade, while 12 dropped a letter grade (none dropped more than one) including two high schools that earned ‘A’s last year (Gateway and Poinciana), Renaissance Charter at Tapestry and Mater Academy at St. Cloud.
Neighboring Lake, Orange and Seminole school districts earned A’s, and Polk schools earned a B, as they did last year.
Statewide, the DOE announced that, for the first time ever, more than 60% of Florida students are performing on or above grade level in both English language arts (61%) and mathematics (62%), which is also where Osceola County's student performed according to Wednesday's accountability report.
For the full state accountability report, go to https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/accountability-reporting/school-grades/
