Florida Cabinet Revises School Accountability System

By Jessica L. Sandham

Yielding to complaints that Florida's accountability system awards a disproportionate amount of money to schools that need it least, state officials recently approved changes that would send more aid to schools that do poorly on state tests but demonstrate improvement.

Florida provided financial awards this past fall of up to $100 per student to schools that received an A on the state's grading scale—which is based largely on state test scores—or showed "significant improvement." Under the new provisions, schools that improve by one letter grade from one year to the next, as well as those earning A's, are eligible for the rewards. In addition, F- graded schools that fail to improve a whole letter grade, but still show significant improvement, will qualify to receive the extra money.

In a 4-2 vote last month, the Florida Cabinet—acting as the state board of education—also made other changes to the accountability system, which was approved by the legislature last spring. The Cabinet expanded the number of grades tested and made attendance, dropout, and discipline rates bigger factors...