District, school grades released: More Florida districts and schools received grades of A or B from the state than they did last year, according to the report issued Monday by the Florida Department of Education. Overall, 88% of districts and 71% of schools received an A or B grade this year, up from last year's 65% and 64%, respectively. The number of A districts jumped from 22 last year to 28 this year, and the total of B districts increased from 22 to 31. Only 8 districts received a C, down from 21 in 2024, and no districts were issued D or F grades. The number of A schools increased from 1,299 to 1,526, and B grades were issued to 935 schools, up from 916 last year. C school totals declined from 1,119 last year to 919 this year, and D schools from 109 to 61. Ten schools were given an F grade, up from 8 a year ago. Florida Phoenix. Florida Politics. WUSF. Florida Daily. The Center Square. Florida Department of Education. During Monday's announcement in Jacksonville, Gov. Ron DeSantis also introduced the state's new education commissioner, Anastasios Kamoutsas. Florida Times-Union.
Grades reports from around Florida: School officials from the state's 67 school districts are reporting their grades for their districts and schools. Miami-Dade, Broward. Palm Beach. Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco. Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola. Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Baker. Escambia, Santa Rosa. Okaloosa. Bay. Brevard. Leon. St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River. Volusia. Flagler. Citrus. Lee. Collier. Sarasota, Manatee, Hernando, Highlands, Hardee. Hendry. Glades. Okeechobee. DeSoto. Charlotte. Alachua. Bradford, Columbia, Putnam, Union. Polk. Marion. Sumter. Dixie, Gilchrist, Levy, Suwannee. Calhoun. Taylor, Franklin, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Wakulla. Madison. Jackson. Gulf, Holmes, Liberty, Walton, Washington. Monroe.
Around the state: Florida teachers are trying to reconcile conflicting national and state reports on student testing results, a study reports that students in six Florida districts attend schools in extreme urban heat zones, a Jacksonville early-learning center is chosen for a national study on how to create "ideal" child-care centers, and NAEP science test scores for 8th-graders won't be announced until later this summer. Here are details about those stories and others from the state’s districts, private schools, and colleges and universities:
Duval: A Jacksonville early learning program is one of 22 in the country chosen for a study of how to create "ideal" child-care centers. J'Bear Learning Center and three other Florida centers were chosen as lab sites by WeVision EarlyEd Solutions Lab. "The sites will (demonstrate) what’s possible when child-care sites have appropriate funding, accountability, and autonomy — core components of the ideal child-care system," said Marica Cox Mitchell, a vice president for the Bainum Family Foundation, which is funding the project. Florida Times-Union.
Escambia: Yet another D grade from the state puts the Warrington Preparatory Academy charter school's future at risk. It's the second straight D for the school, which was turned over to the Charter Schools USA charter company in 2023 after years of poor academic performance. Students could be distributed to district schools if Warrington's grade doesn't improve to a C by this time next year. Pensacola News Journal.
Alachua: School board members' appeal of a Florida Charter School Review Commission decision to approve the conversion of Newberry Elementary School into a charter school will be heard by the Florida Board of Education at a meeting July 16. WCJB.
Colleges and universities: Leadership questions persist at the University of Florida, with the positions of the presidency, the top academic officers, several other high-ranking administrators and five school deans still being filled by interim appointments. Miami Herald. Scores for 2025 Advanced Placement tests began to be released Monday, according to the College Board. The scores determine if incoming first-year college students earned university credit and can skip some of the general education courses. USA Today Florida Network.
Interpreting test results: Teachers are struggling to make sense of contradictory student test results on the state and national levels. On the state assessments, Florida students showed modest improvement. But on the National Assessment of Education progress exams and the SAT, Florida students are lagging. Florida Education Association president Andrew Spar says he thinks part of the problem is that the state keeps changing the tests it uses. WUSF.
Florida urban heat islands: A majority of students in Orlando, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami and Fort Myers attend public schools in extreme urban heat zones, according to a study by the research group Climate Central. Orlando tops the list with 97% of city students attending schools in those zones, which are marked by a concentration of roads, buildings and parking lots, dense populations, a reduced percentage of green space with not enough plants, and schools with inadequate air-conditioning. West Palm Beach was next at 95%, followed by Tampa at 92%, Fort Myers at 85%, Jacksonville at 72% and Miami at 55%. Axios.
Around the nation: Science scores for 8th-grade U.S. students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress have still not been released a month after the National Assessment Governing Board said they would. That board would not comment on the delay except to say the scores would be released "later this summer." The Hechinger Report.
Opinions on schools: The do-gooder education reform alliance should take stock of which efforts produced meaningful results, and which proved to be costly quagmires, and recalibrate their efforts accordingly. Matthew Ladner, NextSteps. Most Americans once celebrated our heterogeneity, our pluralism, and our tendency to expand freedoms. We valued knowledge and tried to foster understanding; we welcomed the new. Not so much these days, not here in Florida. Diane Roberts, Florida Phoenix.
