MIAMI – Some excellent news was revealed on Thursday regarding South Florida’s public school students.
Despite the challenges schools have faced since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of “A+” schools has increased within the last year.
When comparing all public schools in the State of Florida, Miami-Dade comes out on top.
“Miami-Dade County Public schools is one of only 14 rated “A”,” said Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Jose Dotres.
Perhaps even more significant is the ability to pull ahead despite setbacks stemming from the pandemic.
The percentage of “A” schools in Miami-Dade went from 46 percent in the pre-pandemic years of 2018-2019 to 54 percent in 2021 and 2022.
Dotres said the ratings show there is an academic recovery taking place following a tough time during the pandemic, what’s now called the COVID Slide, which strongly affected learning in math. But that has now recovered, while reading still remains a challenge.
“Our youngest learners I think lost the most,” Dotres said.
Miami-Dade outpaced Broward County Public Schools, which the state gave a “B” rating, narrowly missing an “A” by one percentage point. Two schools in Broward County received an “F.”
“We are actually percentage wise higher than what the state average is,” said Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Vickie Cartwright.
Again, because of education loss, school districts like Broward want to compare ratings to pre-pandemic times.
In Broward, 45 percent of traditional schools remained or improved to an “A” rating while 55 percent remained or improved to an “A” or “B” rating.
“Not going to be completely satisfied until I know that we have zero Fs and zero Ds and all of our schools are succeeding.”
For additional information on Florida 2022 school grades, click here.
More info on Miami-Dade
Below are key findings from the Preliminary 2021-2022 School Performance Grades:
- The percentage of “A” schools in M-DCPS increased by 8 percentage points from 46 percent in 2018-2019 (pre-pandemic) to 54 percent in 2021-2022.
- 99.5 percent of all M-DCPS schools earned “A,” “B,” or “C” school grades.
- 77 percent of all M-DCPS schools earned “A” or “B” school grades, as compared to 58% statewide.
- The percentage of M-DCPS schools earning “A” school grades outpaced other large districts, including Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Orange, and Palm Beach.
More info on Broward
When comparing school grades between 2019 and 2022:
- 45 percent of BCPS traditional schools remained or improved to an “A”
- 55 percent of BCPS traditional schools remained or improved to an “A” or “B”
- 79 percent of BCPS traditional schools remained or improved to an “A,” “B” or “C”
- BCPS has a higher percentage of schools earning a grade of “A” or “B” than the state average