District's B grade snaps string of Cs

The school grade news was all good for Franklin County last week when the state issued its school accountability report results.

The tide of educational success lifted all boats, as the district ended five years as a C school to earn its first ever B grade.

The Apalachicola Bay Charter School climbed two grade levels, from a C last year, to earn its third A grade in the last seven years.

The consolidated school earned a solid C, up from last year's D grade, and its best performance since 2002.

"I was thrilled," said Superintendent Nina Marks. "Everybody's real excited. We were well into a C. We have faced physical, emotional, and organizational challenges over the past months. The consistent hard work established an initial consolidated school foundation, a school grade of C. We'll take it.

"Improvements occurred in 2009 as the newfound focus on the students became evident all over campus," she said. "Who knows how we'll we will do next year when we meet new challenges with even more determination, commitment, and support for one another?"

Apalachicola Bay Charter School Principal Don Hungerford was elated with the news the school had earned 575 points, for a solid A.

"We're very, very pleased," he said. "I'm very proud of our students and our staff. We had a number of students make great gains. We put a lot of effort into increasing our intensity, particularly more for math and science, because we already had a lot of intensity for reading. Obviously it paid off."

Marks echoed Hungerford's pride. "They're our kids too," she said. "The district on an average is a B, and I think as long as everybody views it that way, we'll be fine."

Further confirmation that the two schools have grown alike was evidenced in the populations of free and reduced lunch students, an indicator of low income, and the numbers of minority students, reported in the state's "grade card."

The percentage of minority students at the ABC School, which in its earliest years had just a handful of minorities, now numbers 17 percent, 1 percentage point greater than the 16 percent at the consolidated school.

In addition, 58 percent of the ABC School student body is on free and reduced lunch, just 7 percentage points below the 65 percent at the consolidated school.

More and more students meeting high standards

With 477 points, the consolidated school fell 18 points short of earning a B, but Marks said the district had no plans to lodge an appeal.

"I don't see the point in us doing all that," she said, adding that "next year when we're really close to that A, then I will challenge it."

With 63 percent meeting high standards in reading, 68 percent in math, and 76 percent in writing, the district's results were the best in each of these three main categories since 2003, when the roots of consolidation began. Students meet high standards when they score at least 3,4 or 5 on the FCAT test, meaning they are performing at grade level or better.

The ABC School's percentage meeting high standards in these three subjects paced the district, with no fewer than three-fourths of its students achieving that distinction in each subject area.

In science, the ABC School had 58 percent of its students meeting high standards, 25 percentage points better than last year.  "Last year our sciences scores were poor," he said. "This year we've made gains."

At the consolidated school, 35 percent of the students met high standards in science, 11 percentage points better than last year, but below the 2006-07 results, when 44 percent met high standards in science.

Better than three-fourths of the consolidated school students met high standards in writing, as strong a showing as at any time since 2002.

In math, 64 percent of the students met high standards in math, and 59 percent in math, both best-ever results since 2001.

ABC School does well with learning gains

A big part of the point totals comes when students make learning gains in reading and math. At the ABC School, better than 71 percent of students did so in each subject, while at the consolidated school, 58 percent made reading gains and 66 percent made gains in math. All of these percentages were among the best results for these categories in the last eight years.

The school grades also award points for learning gains made by students who have performed in the lowest quarter of those tested. At the ABC School, better than 70 percent of these students made this stride, including a huge 29 percentage point leap in regards to reading by these lower performing students.

At the consolidated school,  57 percent of these lower performing students made gains in reading, 10 points better than last year. But only 61 percent of these students made gains in math, 7 percentage points worse than the consolidated school's showing last year.

Hungerford said that ABC School teachers will soon meet to determine how they plan to divvy up amongst themselves and other staffers $100 per student in bonus money, or about $30,000, for having earned an A.

This week the ABC School completed its move to the campus of the former Chapman Elementary School.

"We are hoping to move the classrooms in about a month," he said.

Hungerford said the 2009-10 staff is complete, with the exception of a kindergartner teacher.

He said next year, when the school becomes a Title I school and there is a change in how the school handles its finances, it should be in slightly better financial shape than it was this year, when several teacher assistants had to be laid off midyear.

"A number will come back, but it will be less than we were when we were fully funded," he said.

He said he has laid down a challenge to the faculty to shoot for two consecutive years as an A school, something it has yet to do because of the difficulty in sustaining large strides in learning gains in consecutive years.

""We've never done that, it's more difficult," he said. "It's a toughie."

Marks said the district plans to complete nearly all of its staffing at this week's special meeting, Thursday June 25 at 6 p.m. at the Willie Speed board room in Eastpoint.

"We've rewritten job descriptions for the deans," she said. "The goal is to get everything done before July 1."