Report Cards Are Out On Pasco Schools

While students throughout Pasco County received their report cards weeks ago, individual schools are just now finding out how they ranked.

The Florida Department of Education released its school grades this morning, showing that Pasco overall ranks a B grade. The district earned 520 points on the department’s grading scale, just five away from an A.

“While we acknowledge opportunities for improvement in our continued pursuit of excellence, we must celebrate the positive impact that our dedicated staff is making on the lives of the students we serve,” said Superintendent Heather Fiorentino, in a media release.

A total of 67 percent of Pasco schools earned an A or B grade. Eighty percent of middle schools brought home an A or B.

The report cards only apply to elementary and middle schools. High school grades are calculated differently and include graduation rates. These grades will come out in November, said Summer Romagnoli, Pasco schools’ spokeswoman.

The report cards that were released showed strong results for some Pasco schools.

A total of 71 percent of Pasco’s schools maintained or improved their grades. Woodland, Shady Hills, Connerton and Imagine moved up two letter grades – from a C grade to an A.

Also of note are four elementary schools that not only made an A grade, but also earned Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, designation this year. They are Seven Oaks, Trinity, Wesley Chapel and Imagine.

Earning the AYP designation is very difficult, Romagnoli said.

“AYP is the federal measure – there are various subgroups of students (based upon socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, special needs, language, etc),” she said. “If each subgroup does not make what the federal government determines to be sufficient progress (it is usually a target proficiency rate), then the school does not make AYP.  It is extremely difficult and rare for schools to make AYP because the standard is so high and just one subgroup failing to meet the target means that a school doesn’t make it.”

Kathy Helean, principal at the Imagine charter school in Land O’ Lakes, was very pleased with the results.

“All of my teachers were truly focused on every child being successful,” she said. “We put some remedial classes and interventions in place. Our focus was in math because that’s where we dropped last year.”

Imagine has been open for three years. The first year it rated a B and then dropped to a C.

While high school grades are not available, the district was able to get a sneak peek at how they are performing. The state released the total number of points earned by each high school on Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests. The early numbers show that 75 percent of high schools in the county maintained or increased their points. Anclote High earned the biggest gain of 81 points, bringing its points from 392 to 473. Other high achieving schools included Mitchell, which rose from 529 to 548; Pasco rose from 472 to 498; Ridgewood saw an increase from 445 to 468; River Ridge went from 488 to 519; Sunlake increased from 483 to 517; and Wesley Chapel climbed from 470 to 488.

A complete list of school grades should be available soon. Check back with Patch to see how other area schools fared this year.