2013-14 Florida Charter School Rankings

Preliminary scores are out in Florida, which means that the letter grades associated with them will allow us to rank them. If you need a refresher on how these scores work, please see our previous Florida charter school rankings for 2012 and 2013. Florida charter high school grades are not out yet for 2013-14, which is normal so just know that they aren’t represented here.

Overall, it was a pretty good year for Florida public education performance, in both charters and district schools. Some of you will remember the cataclysm last year when the state changed the way the baseline scores were calculated, dropping many schools an entire letter grade, if not two full letter grades. That glitch appears to have been fixed, so we’re not going to break the record set last year for the number of F-schools across the state. In fact, a lot of those F-schools made dramatic changes and we’re pleasantly surprised by the gains made in some of our most difficult public school markets, especially those gains made by charters.

Below, we will reference an APE% (Adjusted Points Earned), which is just the school’s performance score as a percentage of its total possible points, which differ by grade levels served (typically, 800 for Elementary and 900 for Middle). The APE% just helps visualize the school’s grade out of 100%, we didn’t add any data to these rankings. This is straight from the FLDOE.

 

2013-14 Florida Charter Elementary Schools

We’ll start with Florida’s charter elementary school rankings. Remember, these are standalone elementary charters, meaning the charters themselves were written specifically for grades K-5. They sometimes operate in conjunction with a charter middle school in order to form a contiguous K-8 system, but note that as separate charters, they would receive separate scores.

Here are some quick stats regarding Florida charter elementary schools:

• Of the charter elementary schools that received grades, the average APE% was 63.6%, or an average baseline score of 510. This is equivalent to a B-rating by letter grade. District-managed elementary schools averaged 62.0%, with a baseline score of about 496. This means Florida charter elementary schools, on average, outperformed Florida district elementary schools yet again.
• Hartridge Academy lost its top spot to Somerset Gables, the only charter elementary with an APE% above 90%. In fact, when combined with charter middle and combination schools, Somerset Gables is still the top charter school in the state. Hartridge, however, had a significantly higher FRL population, the second highest among the top 18.
• Three charter elementary schools jumped from a D to an A this year: Lincoln-Marti Schools (International Campus), RCMA’s Wimauma Academy, and Mater Academy of International Studies. This is a staggering feat, especially given they all had FRL populations of at least 94% and minority populations of at least 97%.
• One charter elementary school jumped from a D to an B: Imagine Charter School at North Lauderdale, with an FRL population of 96% and a minority population of 97%.
• As these are preliminary grades, some notable schools haven’t been reported. For instance, Downtown Miami Charter School and Mater Academy East, which have both maintained A-ratings for years in spite of very high FRL and minority rates, do not have baseline scores yet. When those scores come out, these rankings will inevitably change.

 

 

 

2013-14 Florida Charter Middle Schools

Next are the rankings for Florida’s charter middle schools. Again, these charters were written specifically for middle school grades (6-8), so they are representative only of those grade levels. Most of these schools’ charters were written to supplement an existing governing board’s elementary charter, so there are shared naming conventions across the two categories of charters.

Many of the elementary and middle charters under the same board are actually located on the same campus. This creates a little confusion for school shoppers, who might think that an elementary/middle charter campus down the road is a single K-8 charter, when in reality it is two separate charters with two separate leases operating under the same governing board and receiving two separate grades.

Here are some quick stats regarding Florida charter middle schools:

• Of the charter middle schools that received grades, the average APE% was 66.4%, or an average baseline score of 581. This is equivalent to a high B-rating by letter grade. District-managed middle schools averaged 62.9%, with a baseline score of about 565. Just as with the Florida elementary scores, it appears that charter middle schools, on average, outperformed district middle schools again as well.
• The top three charter middle schools in the state last year jostled for position, with Doral Academy of Technology coming out on top with a baseline score of 831 (92.3%). Next in line were Archimedean Middle Conservatory at 91.6% and Terrace Community Middle School, last year’s #1 charter middle school in the state, with an 89.3%.
• No charter middle schools jumped from a D to an A this year, but four jumped from a C to an A: Somerset Academy Charter Middle in Country Palms, Shiloh Middle Charter School, RMCA’s Leadership Academy, and Somerset Preparatory Charter Middle School.
• One charter middle school jumped from a D to an B: Community Charter Middle School of Excellence, with an FRL population of 90% and a minority population of 84%.

 

 

 

2013-14 Florida Charter Combination Schools

Usually, we wouldn’t rank combination charters so early in the year. Some schools are still missing from these preliminary sheets. Still, as there is also information missing from the elementary and middle school sheets, it doesn’t hurt to post combination rankings now and make updates later.

Combination charters are very popular, particularly the K-8 model. District-managed public schools have started to pick up on this recently, and some Districts in Florida are even mimicking the K-8 model themselves. The amount of money it saves on the facilities side and the simple logistics of such fluid grade configurations makes the K-8 model a very powerful innovation that charter schools have driven in public education reform.

Another popular model is the combination high school, a favorite being a charter school campus serving grades 6-12. The benefit of having two entry years (6th and 9th) in an upper school helps a lot in financing and academics, but the high school element means that most of their performance data are still pending. That being said, most schools referenced below are going to be K-8 or some blend of non-HS grades.

Here are some quick stats regarding Florida charter combination schools:

• Of the charter combination schools that received grades, the average APE% was 63.4%, or an average baseline score of 545. This is equivalent to a B-rating by letter grade. District-managed combination schools averaged 63.7%, with a baseline score of 565. This shows that not only have school districts adopted innovative combination models from charter schools, they are beating combination charter schools at their own game, albeit not by much.
• Top honors this year go to Aventura City of Excellence School, with a score of 85.2% (the only combo charter to break the 85% mark).
• Only one charter combination school (a K-8) jumped from a D to an A this year: Renaissance Charter School at Poinciana. Like we said about the charter elementary schools above, this is a tremendous academic success made all the more impressive by the school’s FRL population of 82% and minority population of 83%.
• Six charter combination schools jumped from a C to an A: Mater Brickell Preparatory Academy, Canoe Creek Charter Academy, Renaissance Charter School at University, PM Wells Charter Academy, Renaissance Charter School of St. Lucie, and Florida Intercultural Academy K-8 West. Give them all a round of applause.
• Amazingly, two charter combination schools jumped from F to B: Bridgeprep Academy InterAmerican Campus and Renaissance Charter School at Chickasaw Trail. Both schools had a majority population on Free or Reduced Lunch and minority populations exceeding 85%. Notably, Burns Science and Technology Charter School jumped from a D to a B after earning an F in 2012.

 

 

 

We’ll make updates to these sheets when Florida high school performance data is released later in the year. In the meantime, make sure to send these rankings to anyone Floridians you know who are looking for a school for their children. Charter school waiting lists get longer every year, so the sooner you pick a school, the sooner you can get your kids a seat.

For all you Excel fanatics out there, here is our sheet, broken out by charter vs. district, and by charter school type (Elem, Middle, Combo) – Prelim Data for Florida Public Elementary and Middle (2013-14)