St. Lucie County schools make the grade

By MARGOT SUSCA

St. Lucie County children overall made gains this year and high-minority, low-income schools showed dramatic improvement, according to state Education Department results released Wednesday.

Of 33 schools measured, 14 improved, eight dropped and 10 saw no change. Oak Hammock K-8 in Port St. Lucie earned a B in its first year open.

But as school leaders celebrated the gains, which included fewer D's and more A's, they also acknowledged disappointments in performance on federal progress standards. Failures there mean seven schools face outside scrutiny and thousands of parents are eligible to request free tutoring or transfers next year.

"It's one of those love-hate relationships," said Owen Roberts, the district's testing chief. "You like what has happened with grades but a stringent No Child Left Behind Act is all or none and it keeps hitting you in the face."

In the grades, stunning improvement came at Garden City Elementary, where more than eight of 10 children are at or below the poverty line and more than three quarters of its K-6 population are considered minority.

Garden City jumped two letter grades, to its first ever A. It also is meeting federal progress targets under No Child Left Behind.

"This is absolutely great for Garden City," Principal John Lynch said. "We have a staff that just does not give up and they are dedicated to children."
Garden City's grade was the highest a school can earn and equal to that of such consistently high-performing magnet schools as Frances K. Sweet Elementary.
Other high-minority, low- income schools also showed gains including C.A. Moore, Lawnwood, St. Lucie and White City.
But downturns came at some Port St. Lucie elementary schools including Bayshore, Mariposa, Parkway, Port St. Lucie and Village Green. Windmill Point and Morningside boosted their performances to As.

Fort Pierce Westwood High and Port St. Lucie High improved to C's, and Fort Pierce Central High declined from a C to a D. St. Lucie West Centennial High remained a C school.

Forest Grove Middle, where 72 percent of students are at or below the poverty line and two-thirds are minority, ended a six-year string of C's with its first ever B.

"We have been working towards breaking through that ceiling," Principal Charles Cuomo said. "We think of ourselves as that beat-the-odds school and that's a credit to my teachers."
But Forest Grove failed to make sufficient progress, according to federal standards.

While school grades are based on FCAT reading, math and writing performance, No Child Left Behind considers the same exam yet examines how students in different ethnic and racial categories perform.

In this the fourth year of accountability under the federal education overhaul, schools not making progress — formally called Adequate Yearly Progress — face corrective action that could include more research-based training and scrutiny by outside consultants.

Progress is tied to federal Title I money, which helps schools with majority low-income populations. Schools that don't reach targets for two or more consecutive years risk losing control over federal dollars.

The problems achieving ever-toughening progress targets mean thousands of parents can demand their children switch schools, although a fraction of eligible families opted to in recent years.