MIAMI (WSVN) - Miami-Dade County Public Schools rejoiced, Wednesday, after it announced that no school in the county earned an F for their performance grade in the 2016-17 school year.
The announcement comes along with a statewide announcement showing that schools across Florida have improved over the year.
The Florida Department of Education released the performance grades for schools across the state for the 2016-17 school year, which showed seven Miami-Dade public schools that failed last year have improved on the grading scale.
M-DCPS Superintendent Alberto Carvalho held a press conference to announce the historic moment.
“In 2007, there were 23 Fs. Two years ago, we had taken that number down to 14 Fs,” Carvalho said during an announcement outside the school headquarters in Miami. “Last year, we took that number down to seven Fs so a 50 percent decrease. So if you do the math, you expect, this year, for us to take the number of F schools down from seven to three or four. But something interesting happened. Today, we are announcing that for the very first time in the history of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, we have eliminated all F schools in our community.”
The seven previous F schools and the grades they went to are as follows:
- Earlington Heights Elementary, Miami
From F to B - Parkview Elementary, Miami Gardens
From F to C - Poinciana Park Elementary, Miami
From F to A - Skyway Elementary School, Miami Gardens
From F to B - Brownsville Middle School, Miami
From F to D - Carol City Middle School, Miami Gardens
From F to C - North Dade Middle School, Miami Gardens
From F to C
“Second only to the day I became superintendent, this is my proudest moment,” Carvalho said.
Poinciana Park Elementary had the biggest improvement, and Principal Dr. Amrita J. Prakash said it’s all due to the efforts put in by the staff and students. “They dug really deep this year to bring the best outcome that we possibly can,” Prakash said.
Earlington Heights Elementary also made huge progress. “We started off the year with the theme ‘HEROES,’ which means, Helping Each other Reach Outcomes of Excellence and Success,” said Earlington Heights Elementary Principal Jackson Nicolas. “Mission accomplished.”
In 2017, 94 percent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools received an A, B or C.
“We’ve proven that the 305 is alive,” Carvalho said, “and today is probably the most important day in the history of this school system.”
Schools in Broward County also held a news conference Wednesday afternoon to celebrate their grade improvements as well.
“Ninety-six percent of our innovative district schools earned an A, B or C,” said Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie.
The county does still have a couple of failing schools but has managed to pull several off the “D” list.
The day marked one that is certainly a cause for celebration. “We’re thinking about having a small parade around our neighborhood,” Prakash said, “just to have the community and the neighbors celebrate with us.”
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is also proud of the graduation rate this year, which surpassed 80 percent.
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