Sarasota High Schools earn top rankings

The Florida Department of Education released high school grades Wednesday that show all eight Sarasota County School District high schools received either an A or B grade for the 2010 -2011 school year.

High schools are graded on a 1,600-point scale, for which 800 points are derived from FCAT scores and 800 points are based on other factors such as graduation rate, the number of students taking advanced-placement courses and passing advanced-placement examinations and indicators of student readiness for college.

Schools also may be penalized a full grade if certain subgroups of students do not perform at required levels. The graduation rate of at-risk students must increase and the reading score gains for the lowest-performing 25 percent of the student population must increase by a specified amount for schools to earn an A, regardless of their overall point scores.

“We have made some remarkable progress in the past year, especially considering the severe reduction in resources the district has experienced in recent years,” said Sarasota County Executive Director of High Schools Steve Cantees.

Overall, the Sarasota County School District has maintained an A grade every year that state grades have been assigned.

A school must earn 1,050 points or higher to qualify for an A.

The scores for the Sarasota County high schools are as follows:

High School, 2009-10 Ranking, 2010-11 Ranking
Booker, A, B
North Port, B, B
Pine View, A, A
Riverview, B, B
Sarasota Military Academy, A, B
Sarasota, B, B
Venice, A, B

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].