By RICHARD MYHRE
Wakulla Schools
Last week the Florida Department of Education released district and school grades for the 2022-23 school year which validated the success and hard work of the entire Wakulla County School District.
Per legislative action, the district and school grades for last year were to be limited to a fixed number of A, B, C, D, and F schools to be in proportion with the number of schools receiving those grades previous year.
Essentially, not every school could even earn an A, and to further complicate matters, DOE did not tell district officials what level of performance was to be an A until the scores were released. Additionally, this level of performance was made to be different at each instructional level (elementary, middle, high). Regardless, through the dedication of Wakulla’s teachers and staff, the district outperformed other districts across the state and regained an A rating with the district finishing tied for the 9th highest performing district in the state out of 67.
At the school level, Wakulla High School regained its A status in a year which required high schools to attain substantially more points than in years past in order to be ranked an A. After the release of assessment scores in June, and the previously released graduation rates which ranked Wakulla at 2nd in the state, the district had been hopeful that WHS would be recognized as an A as all metrics were pointing to that level of success.
Both Riversprings Middle School and Wakulla Middle School improved their scores from the previous year, but the requirements for middle schools were raised as well, thus, both schools finished as a B. The district is extremely proud of the improvements at RMS as they earned a score which in years past was an A, and all expectations were for them to be awarded that rating for their efforts. Their entire staff is to commended for their accomplishment, and the future is looking bright for the Bears!
Elementary schools were held to the same score requirements to be an A, which meant Riversink Elementary and Shadeville Elementary earned A ratings while Crawfordville Elementary and Medart Elementary earned B’s. The B rating for Medart Elementary was their first grade higher than a C since 2015 and is the culmination of tremendous efforts by the entire Mustang team! Current progress monitoring at Medart this year is also encouraging for this success to continue and possible even improve again.
Wakulla’s distinction of all traditional schools earning an A or B puts us in limited group of only six public school districts across the state to have such have high levels of excellence across the board and speaks to the collective value that Wakulla County places on the education of our children.
Congratulations again to all students, parents, teachers, support staff, and administrators on a job well done!
