New Tampaโs Hillsborough County public schools continue to earn impressive grades from the Florida Department of Education, which released its 2024-25 School Grades Report earlier this month.
All but one of New Tampaโs elementary and middle schools earned an โAโ grade, with Tampa Palms earning a โBโ for the second year in a row, after many years of consistent A ratings.
Two New Tampa schools improved from a B to an A. Heritage Elementary earned an A after dipping to a B in 2023- 24. Turner Bartels K-8 earned an A after several years of earning Bs.
โWe are so proud of everyoneโs hard work,โ says Heritage Elementary principal Mary Booth. โItโs a true team effort from teachers and staff, plus our students work so hard and our families are supportive.โ
The six schools that maintained their A status include Chiles, Clark, Hunterโs Green and Pride elementary schools and both Benito and Liberty middle schools.
Both of New Tampaโs high schools again earned a โCโ grade, as both schools have consistently, going back to 2016.
โBut, weโre making growth,โ says Taryn Anello, the principal at Wharton High. โAcross the board, weโve made gains in every category, and weโre on an upward trend. Weโve improved 22 points over last year.โ
She says she hates for teachers, students and families to feel disheartened because the schoolโs grade did not improve to a B, when the students, teachers and staff are all working so hard to make gains that they hope will show up in the schoolโs rating.
โWith the storms and the chaotic year we had, sometimes itโs a heavy lift to maintain that focus,โ Anello says. โIt wasnโt just the adults who went through those hardships, but our kids went through that, too.โ
Even those schools that earn an A recognize that boiling so many measurements into just one letter can be problematic, and may not be representative of all of the complexities of an entire school and all of the students within it. The letter grades take into account various measurements to represent student achievement, learning gains, graduation, acceleration success and maintaining a focus on students who need the most support.
For example, Heritage lost just a slight percentage in 2023-24 and dipped an entire letter grade. โIt depends on the students in front of you and their needs,โ explains Booth. โWe look at student learning gains, for example, but sometimes the tests donโt accurately measure the gains weโve seen.โ
Hillsborough County received an overall B grade from the state, which Hillsborough Superintendent of Schools Van Ayres said in an email to families was only one percentage point away from an overall A rating for the District.
โThese achievements are a result not only of the hard work of our students, teachers, support professionals and school administrators, but also of our laser-like focus on high-quality core instruction in every classroom and intentional progress monitoring to drive these impressive results,โ Superintendent Ayres said in a media release.
For more info about school grades, visit FLDOE.org/accountability/accountability-reporting/school-grades/.