As it has every year since 1999, the Florida Department of Education has released the school grades for the 2007 school year. This year, the grades were affected by two new standards in grading. For the first time, the grade calculation includes how well the students performed on the Science portion of the FCAT. In addition, the percentage of students who must show improvement over last year’s scores has increased.

As usually happens when the grading standards get tougher, more schools failed and more schools showed lower grades than last year. In fact, the state gave out 82 F’s, many of them to high schools. That’s up from 21 F’s last year – four times as many failures as last year, mostly among high schools. But, says state Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg, the figure is deceptive. Had the grading standards remained the same as they were last year, the number of F ratings would have dropped to 18 rather than rising to 82.

What it means, says Blomberg, is that the state needs to strengthen its teaching of science, and of reading at the high school level. What it means here in the New Tampa area, where every elementary and middle school received an A grade and the two high schools received B and C grades, is that our schools are working, even under the new, tougher standards.

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Calum MacKenzie is Broker/Owner of Real Living Southern Homes, a leading residential real estate brokerage serving the New Tampa real estate and Wesley Chapel real estate markets.