Multiple West Boca Schools Improve to “A” Rating

By: Michael Demyan

Students may have received their final grades months ago, but the grades for the schools themselves have just come in.

After every school year, district schools are ranked on a scale from “A” to “F.” The schools are graded on a maximum of 11 components which include English, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. High school are also evaluated on their graduation rate, which factors students who graduate in the typical four years, while middle schools are evaluated on acceleration.

Four schools in West Boca Raton saw top improvements in their grades compared to 2016. All of them raised their “B” rankings to an “A.” In total, 12 schools in Palm Beach County were able to make that jump.

Grades are recorded by adding points from the various components and dividing them by the total number of points that can be earned. Schools with a 62 percent or higher receive an “A,” while 54 to 61 percent is considered to be the “B” range.

The improvements of the West Boca Schools come after three of those four schools actually took a dip compared to their 2015 grade. Olympic Heights Community High School had held an “A” ranking for two consecutive years before falling last year.

The same drop also happened for Boca Raton Community Middle School and Sandpiper Shores Elementary in 2016 as well, however for both of those schools, 2016 was actually the first time they had received a grade other than an “A” since 2001. It snapped a run of 14 years with the highest grade. Now back at the top of the grading scale, they will both look to continue the top tier success they had through 2015.

“Our staff worked very hard last year to target instruction to meet the needs of our students,” Sandpiper Shores principal Stephanie Coletto said. “We are all very excited that it helped us improve our school grade back to an A.”

The fourth of the four schools which moved up was Hammock Pointe Elementary. They were able to secure their first “A” ranking since 2014.

Now as the 2017-2018 school year began on Monday, Aug. 14, these schools will be attempting their hold onto their grades for a second consecutive year.