Education Department To Release School Grades Today

By The Associated Press
Published: July 08, 2008

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TALLAHASSEE - Teachers across Florida are awaiting the Department of Education's annual grading of individual schools.

Only about a third of Florida's public schools meet the federal No Child Left Behind Act standards and officials are looking for improvement when this year's school grades are released Tuesday.

Grades ranging from A to F currently are used to reward top schools and sanction those deemed to be failing. The test is also used in some districts to determine which teachers get merit pay.

Lawmakers passed legislation earlier this year that downgrades the importance of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test as the sole measure of how well the state's high schools are doing.

Critics claim the FCAT provides only a partial picture of a school's performance.