Florida Education  7th in Nation

Florida ranks higher on K-12 achievement

Governor Scott wasted no time sharing his pleasure of the news that Education Week 2014 Quality Counts report ranked Florida 7th in the country in K-12 achievement.   Governor Scott said, “Today’s news that Florida jumped to 7th nationwide in K-12 achievement is the result of great work by our teachers. Florida families depend on an education system that provides every student with a quality education”, the press release went on to say, “I am proud of Florida’s teachers who have worked so hard to help their students be successful”.

Additional Florida DOE Highlighted in the 2014 Quality Counts report include:

• Florida increased the percentage of students scoring proficient or higher on the 2013 NAEP reading and math assessments for both 4th and 8th grade. Florida’s gains in average NAEP scores from 2003 to 2013 are higher than those of the nation.
• Florida closed the poverty gap in reading and math for both 4th and 8th grade by 2.7 and 5.5 points respectively between 2003 and 2013. Florida is closing the gap at higher rates than the nation as a whole.
• Florida ranks third for increasing its Advanced Placement (AP) scores and for increasing the percentage of 11th and 12th grade AP test takers scoring 3 or higher, up to 36.6 percent from 31.3 percent last year – a 26.4 point increase since 2000. The Sunshine State’s AP performance and increases are higher than that of the nation.
• Florida improved its rank on the chance for success measure and improved its rank to 12 on two sub measures for this metric – preschool enrollment and elementary reading (NAEP grade 4).
• Florida ranks first on two of the four equity measures related to school finance – the McLoone Index that measures actual spending as a percent of the amount needed to bring all student funding to a median level, and the measure which evaluates the amount of disparity in district spending, meaning the Sunshine State leads the nation in the equal distribution of funds amongst its school districts.

For complete information on this year’s report, visit 2014 Quality Counts.

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