School Grades Released - In Depth Coverage

Area School Grades - 2022
Eustis Elementary: C
Sorrento Elementary: C
Eustis Heights Elementary: C
Seminole Springs Elementary: B
Round Lake Elementary: A
Mount Dora High: B
Tavares High: I
Tavares Middle: C
Umatilla High: B
Mount Dora Middle: C
Triangle Elementary: D
Tavares Elementary: C
Umatilla Elementary: B
Umatilla Middle: C
Spring Creek Charter: C
Eustis Middle: C
Lake Virtual Franchise: I
Altoona School: B

    Lake County Schools remains a B school district, despite months of students and staff rebounding from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic
     “We had to overcome some challenges, particularly regarding student attendance, and we did so significantly,” Superintendent Diane Kornegay said, reflecting on the difficulty some families faced with getting students to school regularly after months of disruption from COVID-related quarantines. “Our teachers, administrators and staff were attentive to the needs of our students, and our grade reflects that.”
     Lake’s grade was included in the Florida Department of Education’s statewide release of school grades for the 2021-2022 academic year. It was the first full school grade data release since 2019 due to the lack of assessments in the 2019-2020 school year and the opt-in nature of the 2020-2021 school grades.
    Locally, Round Lake Elementary led the way as the area’s only ‘A’ school, with Seminole Springs Elementary, Umatilla Elementary, Umatilla High, and Altoona School all earning ‘B’ grades.
    Umatilla High School principal Brent Frazier cheered his school’s performance.
    “We improved 168 points, going from 375 to 543 in one year. It is by far the largest increase in Lake County,” he said. “This was achieved as a result of the hard work and dedication of everyone.”
     Kornegay said the district’s B grade represents a commitment to steady academic growth and improvement in Lake, where the graduation rate has surpassed her 90% goal for two consecutive years and student acceleration opportunities have been expanded. Lake students can dual-enroll at Lake-Sumter State College, choose from a variety of Advanced Placement courses for college credit, earn an Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) diploma, and starting this fall, participate in the International Baccalaureate Program.
     Additionally, a record number of students are earning industry certifications through the district’s Career & Technical Education programs. One example is the construction academies at Leesburg, Eustis and South Lake high schools, where students learn hands-on, high demand skills by building a home for a local family in partnership with Lake-Sumter Habitat for Humanity. In Umatilla, a new HVAC program recently came online.
     “I am very proud of our district,” Kornegay said. “I celebrate what our students and staff have accomplished so far, and look forward to working with teachers and administrators to provide more opportunities for our students to get excited about learning and to prepare them for college and careers once they leave our schools.”
     All school and district grades can be viewed on the Florida Department of Education website at this link: https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/accountability-reporting/school-grades/.

Opinion:

GRADES DON’T TELL THE WHOLE STORY
    In the latest sign that ’normalcy’ has returned and we are in a post-pandemic world, area public school teachers and students are once again being graded for their collective ability to generate test scores. It’s school grading season, and like a bad movie series that sees sequel after sequel still be made, we are once again forced to spend time studying overall school performance through the lens that feels like it doesn’t present anything approaching a full picture.
    Not that we don’t see value in evaluation. Testing has always been an important element in judging student progress. But over the last two decades, testing, both in frequency and ‘importance’, has grown to swallow up so much of the overall educational experience, that a holistic experience for young people seems almost a forgotten concept.
    Climb with us back into the way-back machine, way back in the 1990's, when the idea of volume testing was just getting started. Tom Sanders was Lake County Schools Superintendent then, and we remember hearing him let the cat out of the bag about what education was about to become. He told the gathered teachers at this meeting that their success - or failure - was going to be measured on their ability to 'teach the test'. Over the years since then, there has been an ever-growing focus on testing, as students grind through one after another test to gauge their progression during the year, in advance of end-of-year evaluations. Along the way, it appears the main winners are the testing companies, which make mountains of cash selling evaluations to districts.
    We cover the school grades, because they are official and do give an idea of how schools are doing in the areas the state looks at, which include how much success they are having getting their lowest performers to improve.
    But we don't want you to think that if your favorite school is an 'A' or a 'C' or a whatever, that the grade tells the whole story. How is the campus life? Is the school able to offer high levels of enrichment in between all the testing? Are there some unique programs that speak to your student's interests?
    All these questions should be asked by parents of public school children, because while this is the age of hyper testing, it is also the age of broad school choice. More than ever, public school children have the ability to matriculate to a different school if they choose. Also, there are charter schools that have no district boundaries to worry about. Or if you just want to get away from all the testing, you could investigate private or homeschool options.
    Your children’s education is worth your participation. An annual school grade is a tool to see which schools are performing better in certain metrics, but don’t let those grades tell you the whole story. Do your research, and get your children into the best program for them.