| Vital Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Public schools | 3,427 |
| Public school teachers | 144,955 |
| Pre-K-12 students | 2,587,628 |
| Annual pre-K-12 expenditures | $16.4 billion |
| Minority students | 48.7% |
| Children in poverty | 18% |
| Students with disabilities | 15.5% |
| English-language learners | 8% |
Summary of Grades
Florida scores above the national average on two of four graded categories of education policy in Quality Counts and slightly below the national average on the other two categories.
The state scores very well on measures related to standards and accountability, ranking near the top of the nation. Florida has a particularly strong showing for accountability indicators. The state sanctions and provides assistance to all low-performing schools (not just those that receive federal Title I money), and provides rewards to high-performing or improving schools.
Florida does not do as well in teacher quality, falling below the national average. The state loses points in this category because it does not require all prospective high school or middle school teachers to have a major, minor, or equivalent coursework in the subjects they will teach in order to receive a beginning-teacher license.
Florida also performs slightly below the average state on measures of school climate. In particular, the state struggles on school size indicators. The percentage of students in Florida attending smaller schools is far below the national average. The state’s average class size in elementary schools also exceeds the national average.
The state scores slightly above average in resource equity. Its score for the coefficient of variation is among the best in the nation, indicating a low level of disparity in per pupil funding levels across the districts in the state.
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| Quality Counts Grading Breakdown | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Note: Details may not sum to totals due to rounding.
