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Revisions to School Grades Rule

In the past year, the State Board of Education has adopted changes to the school grading rule to implement statutory changes, comply with the ESEA flexibility waiver and provide for transition. The State Board of Education adopted revisions to the school grades rule, 6A-1.09981, F.A.C., on February 28, 2012, after more than a year of processing stakeholder input through advisory group meetings and solicitation of public input; revisions adopted on May 10, 2012, as recommendations from the Commissioner's Task Force on Inclusion and Accountability; and most recently, the State Board adopted the FCAT Writing Accountability Standard at 3.5 on December 12, 2012.

The revisions are designed to incorporate statutory changes, improve the school grades methodology, make school grades a single system used for both state and federal accountability, and will raise the standards for schools. Revisions include an increase in rigor based on the State Board's adoption of new achievement level standards for the FCAT 2.0 Reading, Math and Writing, as well as the end-of-course exams. In addition, these revisions define how new assessments required in law will be factored into the school grading formula in future years and how new components required in law for middle school grades are implemented. The amended rule also includes students with disabilities and more English language learners in the performance measures for reading, math, science, and writing, in compliance with Florida's recently approved ESEA waiver application.

A proposed rule development would revise the definition of "graduates" for the five-year high school graduation rate in the school grades calculation to be consistent with the requirements for the federal uniform graduation rate. This change is required to obtain final approval of Florida's Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility waiver. A rule development workshop was held on March 1, 2013 and March 4, 2013.

Background for Changes

Statutory revisions to school grading by the Florida Legislature and the state's transition to new statewide assessments required updates to the school grading rule (6A-1.09981, F.A.C.) effective for 2011-12 and beyond. During 2011 and into 2012, Department staff solicited input from district superintendents as well as assessment and accountability directors through advisory groups including the Leadership Policy Advisory Council (superintendents) and the Assessment and Accountability Advisory Committee (accountability and assessment directors), and other stakeholders. The Department factored recommendations from stakeholders in preparing proposed rule changes for the State Board to consider during its meeting on February 28, 2012.

During the February meeting, the State Board provisionally adopted many of the proposed amendments and requested the creation of a taskforce to develop an implementation plan to fully include students with disabilities, English language learners, and students with disabilities enrolled in exceptional education centers in Florida's school accountability system. Aspects of the implementation plan that require rule revision must comply with requirements of Florida's Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waiver and have been reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education. More information on Florida's ESEA waiver application can be found here. More information on the Commissioner's Task Force on Inclusion and Accountability can be found here.

For more information on changes to the rule that the Board considered, visit State Board of Education Meeting Schedule and click on the links for meeting materials used during the Board meetings on February 28, May 10, and May 15, 2012. The meeting materials include proposed rule amendments.

The updated rule will be posted on the Florida Administrative Weekly website.

Additional Information

Rule development workshops regarding school improvement ratings for alternative schools, and for the impact of FCAT Writing on school grades, were held on August 24th, 27th, and 28th of 2012. The presentations at those workshops are provided below.