Statewide 59% of the kids passed, in Duval that dipped to 48%.
I don’t like to compare us to St. Johns or Clay counties, 81 and 68% respectively but I think comparing us to the other six big counties is fair.
Broward -61%
Dade- 56%
Hillsborough -57%
Orange -55%
Palm Beach -58%
Pinellas -52%
I have to believe the destruction of student accountability and the county’s low teacher morale caused by an ineffective and callous administration has led to our scores continuously being below the state's average.
We have to and we can do better.
Personally I know why Clay County has higher scores. As a Duval county teacher, I had to bring my 7th grader to Duval county from Clay so that she could take Algebra 1 this year. We went to the superintendant of Clay to try and get her into the Algebra class but they refused. There were many other students that would have liked the challenge of the higher level math class that also were denied entry (requirements are over a 90% average each nine weeks in math in 6th grade, level 5 on the FCAT and TWO Clay county assessments that they refused to release any information on). So by denying the students an early opportunity they may be able to boost scores by keeping kids from challenging themselves. It would have been a shame if my child didn't get this opportunity, and by the way, she scored a 5 on the EOC. These tests create so many unintended consequences that are bad for students. This is yet another example.
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