BREVARD COUNTY – After a two-year hiatus, Brevard Public Schools was once again graded by the Florida Department of Education on July 18, with BPS earning a “B” grade overall, down from the “A” the district received in 2017-19.
According to the FDOE, a school’s grade may include as many as 11 components. There are four achievement components, comprised of English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. There are also four learning gains components, with components in ELA and mathematics and learning gains for the lowest performing 25 percent of students in ELA and mathematics.
There are also middle school acceleration, graduation rate and college and career acceleration components as well.
“Twenty-six schools are rated an A while 21 schools are rated as a B. Overall, our district was rated a B but one point away from an A,” said District 1 School Board member Misty Belford in a video released by Brevard Public Schools on its Facebook page.
Brevard County Superintendent Mark Mullins explained why he thought the overall district grade dipped.
“Because of COVID-19, the 2018-2019 school year was the last year we received grades,” said Dr. Mullins in the video. “We were an A district, and we were on that path during the 2019-2020 school year when COVID hit as you remember. State testing was called off and grades were not issued. Almost all school districts including Brevard opted out of school grades for the 2020-2021 school year.”
Ms. Belford continued, discussing the impact of COVID on the grades.
“But the state kept track, as did we and that year we saw the impact of the achievement gap created by COVID. If we would have been given a grade, it would have been a low B for the district,” Ms. Belford said.
Dr. Mullins added that there would have been 19 schools that would have received a D grade, though there were zero pre-pandemic.
“That is a harsh reminder of the impact COVID has had on learning,” Dr. Mullins added.
Ms. Belford touted the work of teachers, noting that BPS only had two D-grade schools in the district.
“That’s a huge improvement and of course we’re working hard to help students and staff improve achievement going forward and of our schools, 27 improved their letter grade last school year,” Ms. Belford added.
Most schools in Brevard were also assigned grades as well, though Cocoa High, Melbourne High, Eau Gallie High, Sabal Elementary and the Brevard Virtual School franchise were given incomplete grades.
The following Brevard schools, including charter schools saw their grades decline from the last report in 2019 to 2022 including:
– Pinewood Elementary, John F. Kennedy Middle, Meadowlane Elementary, Westside Elementary, Roy Allen Elementary, Cape View Elementary, Hoover Middle, and Thomas Jefferson Middle which fell from an A to a B;
– Apollo Elementary, Imperial Estates Elementary, Challenger 7 Elementary, Rockledge High, Lockmar Elementary, Southwest Middle, Columbia Elementary, Riviera Elementary, Bayside High, Heritage High, Central Middle, Lyndon B. Johnson Middle and Mila Elementary which all fell from a B to C;
– Andrew Jackson Middle, which fell from an A to a C;
– Endeavour Elementary and W.J. Creel Elementary, which both fell from a C to a D;
– Imagine Schools at West Melbourne, which fell from a B to a D; and
– Odyssey Charter School and Pineapple Cove Academy, which both fell from an A to a B, though both schools did receive an “A” grade for 2021.
The following schools improved, including:
– Atlantis Elementary and Odyssey Preparatory Charter Academy, which improved from a B to an A;
– Coquina Elementary, McNair Magnet Middle, Jupiter Elementary, Audubon Elementary and Royal Palm Charter which improved from a C to a B; and
