Our local school districts are celebrating today.
The state’s report cards are in, and both Broward County Public Schools and Miami-Dade County Public Schools retained their “A” grades.
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As we heard from the superintendents, Jose Dotres at MDCPS and Howard Hepburn at BCPS, retaining the “A” rating is not easy. Doing it requires dedicated teachers and a data-driven approach to personalize instruction for every student.
“Threepeat, that’s all I gotta say, a threepeat, back to back to back A’s, third year in a row!” Hepburn said at a news conference today.
For Broward, the “A” grade is validation.
“It is proof,” said school board member Jeff Holness, “That academic excellence has become the standard at Broward County Public Schools.”
“Seven years in a row, our school district again is designated as an A-rated school district,” Dotres said at his team’s news conference. “We have the best product to offer.”
For Miami-Dade, the “A” grade is proof, the superintendent says, that the district can compete with private and charter schools.
“We are a school district that is offering choice to parents, choices to students, and we do not stop innovating because we know we have to compete,” Dotres said.
“I support parents’ opportunity to choose, they should have that right, but I support competition, and in a competitive environment, we’re showing that we’re the best,” Hepburn added.
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Academic achievement is up. In Broward, nearly 70% of schools retained an “A” or improved a letter grade, 28 schools went from a “B” to and “A,” and seven jumped from “C” to “A.” There are no “D” or “F” schools in either district. Yet enrollment continues to drop and more schools will be closed next school year.
“So it’s up to us to market and letting our families know that we are here and we have what you need if you’re looking for a quality education,” Hepburn said.
Miami-Dade presented a graphic showing how student achievement, not just school grades, has risen in every subject area since the pandemic.
“We do have an elite team of educators making a difference in our classrooms every day,” said school board chair Mari Tere Rojas.
So what’s responsible for the drop in enrollment? The superintendents cite a number of factors, which we have reported previously, including fewer babies being born, the high cost of living driving families out of South Florida, parents having more school choices, and immigration being severely curtailed.
However, in both counties, the vast majority of kids still attend traditional, “A” rated public schools.
Here are the individual grades for every school in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
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