Manatee County schools rank third among seven in FDOE report

Manatee County 10th-grade students are performing in the middle of the pack in math and English.

Local students' passing rates fell below state averages of 67% on Algebra I. and 54% on English Language Arts End-of-Course exams in the 2014-2015 school year.

Sixty-four percent of Manatee County students passed the Algebra exam, and 51% passed the English test, which schools administered in the spring.The county's students ranked third, behind Sarasota and Collier counties, on both of the annual tests.

The Florida Department of Education compared seven like-sized school districts in the survey released last week.

Because of the addition of a range of new End-of-Course exams that kicked off last school year, some schools still didn't have the necessary tools to prepare students for the tests, Superintendent Dr. Diana Green said. But, Greene is confident scores will improve in upcoming school years, as teachers and students become better acquainted with the rigor of increased and ever- changing state standards.

"I am proud of our students' and teachers' accomplishments, even though they didn't have all the necessary textbooks and resources to thoroughly prepare for these new assessments," Greene said in a press release. "But, we've (since) purchased the textbooks, and we've trained more than 200 teachers (with the new materials) to continue moving forward for our students' success."

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].