The Ranking & Rating of Brevard County Schools - Part 2
Posted: March 22nd, 2013
Part 2 - Creating a Ranked List
This is part 2 in a series that culminates with the creation of a list of all Brevard Public & Charter Schools ranked in order of 2013 FCAT performance and provides Florida DOE grade rating.
When my husband & I moved to Melbourne from Northern California six years ago, we placed a premium on ensuring our daughter went to good schools. This drove us to target certain neighboorhoods when looking for our new home. At the time, I swear I had a table, listing the FCAT scores for each Brevard County school printed by a newpaper. Being an engineer, I strive to make "data driven decisions" so I referred to that list constantly while home shopping. When exploring the School of Choice program for middle schools I again wanted to refer to a ranked list.
Finding the right school is more than just finding the school with the highest standardized test scores. Enrichment programs, teachering staff, administrative staff, campus/facilities are just of few of the things that should be considered when looking at schools. Florida's Department of Education assigns A-F letter grades to every school in the state. The grading is based on FCAT scores (performance & learning gains) for lower grades as well as accelerated course (participation & performance) and college prepardiness for upper grades.
It is cumbersome to wade through the 2013 FCAT 2.0 scores and grades on Florida Department of Education's website to compare elementary schools in Brevard. So Ellingson Properties commissioned the generation of a ranked list of all local public & charter schools for its clients. The list includes each school's A-F grade rating from the state.
The list ranks elementary, middle, & high schools according to their average Math and Reading score for all grades tested. In Brevard, an elementary school performance includes scores from grades 3 through 6 although the districit considers grade 6 to be middle school. Brevard middle school performance includes grades 7 and 8 while high school performance is based on reading scores for grades 9 and 10 only.
Below find the top three schools in each list:
It is important to note that 2013 high school grades have not been released yet. A school may have high average FCAT scores, but it's state grade may be lower because improvement gains were not met.
Despite the pros & cons, FCAT scores do provide insight into a schools performance. This information can help parents make informed decisions when home buying. Use the link below for a copy of the 2013 Brevard County Schools Ranking & Rating.
What schools are you zoned for? Check out this districit link.