A Message from Superintendent Alexis Tibbett, Ed. D.

Today the 2007 school grades were released by Florida Department of Education Commissioner Blomberg and Deputy Commissioner Pfeiffer.  School grades are largely based on FCAT scores, but also include a formula that requires low performing students to make significant gains.  This year, two additional criteria were added to the formula: science scores from grades 5, 8 and 11 and progress of students in the lowest quartile in math.  These additions result in a total of eight criteria used to determine school grades.  In other words the bar has been raised.  Despite the increasing number and difficulty of the criteria, Okaloosa schools continue to excel.  

In Okaloosa County 32 schools earned an ‘A’, with four schools receiving a B. All district charter schools achieved the highest school grade possible for their program. The fact that Laurel Hill School and Ocean City Elementary School received B’s confirms the research that schools with higher percentages of economically disadvantaged students often demonstrate lower achievement.  We are addressing this issue in schools and at the district level as we begin our work in closing this achievement gap of low socio-economic students. 

Fort Walton Beach High and Crestview High greatly exceeded the number of points required to earn an ‘A’, but did not receive an ‘A’ because the lowest quartile of students did not make adequate learning gains in reading.  We have begun to address this issue by hiring literacy coaches in the high schools.   

Kudos go to Mary Esther Elementary School.  We are proud of the efforts of those teachers and students as they moved from a ‘B’ School last year to an ‘A’ School this year.

Okaloosa County has 90% of our schools earning an ‘A’ rating and was second only to Gilchrist County, a district with only four schools, all of which achieved an A placing them at 100% and first in performance statewide.  Of the eight school districts designated high performing by the state of Florida, Okaloosa County outdistanced them all with the exception of Gilchrist.    

Teachers, support personnel, administrators, district staff, parents and community leaders should all be proud of the distinguished achievement of our students in Okaloosa County.  Accolades must be given to parents who send highly motivated students to our schools and our community who value education.  Teachers of all grades levels and subject areas have toiled daily to provide individual instruction, complete staff development and implement new research based practices in their classrooms.  School Board members have focused dollars on rigorouscurriculum and differentiated instruction.  We are grateful to each of them. 

The FCAT is not the finish line, it is the start line.  Students in Okaloosa County will continue to increase their skills in reading, math, science and writing due to the hard work of our amazing educators, parents, and community members who support our school system.  The primary objective of our combined efforts is to assist our students in not only meeting graduation requirements but also to become better citizens, parents, lifelong learners and contributors to society.