Making the Grade

After a 2020-2021 school year fully impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Children’s Reading Center Charter School secured its fourth straight A grade and Q.I. Roberts Junior-Senior High School netted its sixth consecutive A grade.

Eleven of Florida’s 67 school districts opted in for school grades for the 2020-2021 school year. Superintendent Rick Surrency said Tuesday the Putnam County School District had opted out of school grades for the 2020-2021 school year.

Q.I. Roberts and Children’s Reading Center Charter School were the lone Putnam County schools opting in to receive grades. The district maintained a C grade from 2014 to 2019. State grades were not issued across the state during the 2019-2020 school year.

“We didn’t feel like it was justified taking a school grade, given all the interruption in instruction last year and that type of thing,” Surrency said.

Determining school grades depends on 11 factors such as:

n test scores.

n improvement in scores and of the previous year’s lowest 25% performing students in English Language Arts and Mathematics.

n success in accelerated and career programs.

n graduation rates. 

Q.I. Roberts Principal Joe Theobold said there is a national trend of student scores decreasing due to all the hardships of the pandemic. He said school staff didn’t have any doubts about opting in to receive their score.

“We are very happy with what our students accomplished and proud of the work students and teachers put in,” Theobold said.

Theobold, a teacher and students met with Cambridge program classes at Kelley Smith and James A. Long elementary schools Wednesday to tell them about the program and provide encouragement.

“We need them to understand what we do,” he said. “The best way to do that is to go to the source.”

Jacqueline England, principal at Children’s Reading Center Charter School, said administration and teachers were excited after getting the A grade. England said teachers had to be diligent during the pandemic. The school has now added a sixth grade that is composed of its fifth grade class from last school year.

“We’re dedicated to our children and there’s a well-written plan for every child,” England said. “We try to propel them forward.”

Children’s Reading Center board President Justin Edwards said four A grades in a row reflected the hard work of the staff.

“The last couple years have been hard and they’ve had to persevere,” Edwards said.

In 2019, Moseley, Browning-Pearce and Kelley Smith elementary schools improved from D to C schools, while Melrose Elementary school raised its C to a B rating. Jenkins Middle School and Mellon Elementary School dropped from a C in 2018 to a D in 2019, though Jenkins has closed and Mellon became the Mellon Learning Center, accommodating prekindergarten and students with a disability. 

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