By: Kathy K. Burns, Superintendent of Schools
June 30, 2017 9:26 a.m.
“It’s report card time!” These words are heard in the halls and homes of students everywhere at least 4 times a year. For the Nassau County School District – It’s report card time! School grades were released this morning for the 2016/17 school year. Once again, our students, teachers, and learning communities continue to shine. Last year our District Grade dropped 2 points from an A to a B. This year, we’re back on top with a District Grade of A! Not only did the Nassau County School District receive an A grade overall, but every school in the District received either an A or B grade. Only three school districts in the entire state share that distinction.
There are many components used to calculate school grades in Florida. These include:
- English/Language Arts Achievement
- English Language Arts Learning Gains of the lowest 25%
- Mathematics Achievement
- Mathematics learning gains of the lowest 25%
- Science/Social Studies Achievement
- College/Career Acceleration
- Graduation rates
2017 Grades:
Fernandina Beach Middle School A
Emma Love Hardee Elementary A
Yulee Elementary B
Callahan Middle B
Hilliard Middle-Senior A (up from a C last year)
Bryceville Elementary A
West Nassau High School B
Yulee Middle School B (up from a C last year)
Yulee High School B
Hilliard Elementary School A
Callahan Intermediate School A
Fernandina Beach High School A
Join us in celebrating our success as we continue to work every day for the success of students and the improvement of our schools.
Southside?
The ever changing world of moving the “cut scores” and the school grading system has long been a challenge for parents and school administrators to keep up with. The need for rising school grades helps keep home sales up and improves the economy that much we know for a fact and is the number one reason people will pick a location when deciding where to locate. The reality is that we have great elementary schools, the issues start to arise in the middle grades and high schools as you could imagine. For many years the Fernandina Beach High School was nationally ranked in the well respected US News & World Report “Best High Schools” report and while from 2014 to 2016 the ranking had fallen we were still on the list and even had been awarded a silver medal and Yulee High School was awarded a bronze medal. In 2017 the report shows no medals and no high schools receiving a national ranking in Nassau County. My question is what happen?
I forgot to create the link so you could easily check the information so here it is for you to do your own research. It would be useful if someone had some insight to share this with folks as it was quite a surprise that FBHS had dropped off as a nationally ranked public high school. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/florida/districts/nassau/fernandina-beach-high-school-5276
Just ran across this interesting article. It would appear our lawmakers have passed legislation that would allow “any resident” of the county to file a complaint or challenge to the instructional materials being used by the school board and the school board will need to appoint an unbiased hearing officer to consider whether to remove the materials or not. Here is the full story from the Washington Post – https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/01/new-florida-law-lets-any-resident-challenge-whats-taught-in-science-classes/?utm_term=.38c7e421b5b5
Doug – Thanks for the incites. Very helpful.