MIAMI – More than 3,000 schools across Florida are being graded under a new grading scale, and while many A schools across Miami-Dade County dropped in the rankings, F schools improved.
"Number 1, we're feeling elated for this set of results, but we do not rest long on the shadow of yesterday's success," Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.
"Here's a community that is minority majority with a great deal of poverty -- 73,000 kids still learning English, 23,000 kids born out of the U.S., and are outperforming the state as a whole, outperforming other large urban cities across America."
The grading system is now based on a new complex formula that is more rigorous than before.
Students must consistently improve, even when they are already considered proficient or on grade level. The assessment is also more demanding at the high school level, with the addition of algebra 2.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools leaders expected many A schools to drop, but the county is still above average.
Records show that 47 percent of Florida public schools earned an A or B, and 53 percent of schools in Miami-Dade County earned an A or B.
"Despite the more difficult standards and assessments, what this set of data tells us is that Miami-Dade is coming of age," Carvalho said.
Carvalho said it is a big win, considering the number of failing schools that improved.
Shadowlawn Elementary School is one of many schools that made tremendous strides, moving from an F to a B.
"We were extremely elated to have moved from an F to a B," Shadowlawn Elementary School principal Gwendolyn Haynes-Evans said. "It took a lot of hard work."
Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Broward County Public Schools maintained overall B grades. Only three counties in Florida received overall A grades.