A rising number of Florida schools have earned A and B grades in the state’s education accountability system, according to data released Monday. last year, according to data released Monday.
The 2025 results showed that 1,526 schools earned the top grade, up from 1,299 a year ago. Another 935 schools received a B, up from 916.
Among districts, 28 earned an A, 31 a B and 8 a C.
Some Republican lawmakers questioned the state’s grading methods during the recently ended legislative session, with at least one calling it “fake.” But Gov. Ron DeSantis said the grades were proof Florida’s education system was improving.
“Nearly 200,000 more students are enrolled in A or B schools in the past academic year than in the previous year,” DeSantis said during a news conference at Oceanway Elementary School in Jacksonville, which improved to an A from a C.
In the Tampa Bay region, the Pinellas school district earned an A overall for the second straight year, with Hillsborough and Pasco getting B’s.
The full set of results is available on the Department of Education website.
DeSantis credited the state’s transition to progress monitoring, in which students are tested three times a year to see how they are advancing, as key to the gains.
“Teachers, students and parents are provided with real-time, actionable student assessments,” he said. “The progress monitoring has led to better student performance and better student achievement.”
Data released in late June showed that larger percentages of students in several demographic groups scored at or above grade level in language arts and math. In many subject areas, though, just over half were reaching that level.
The notion that a school could earn an A grade when so many children still fall short prompted some lawmakers to press for changes to the grading model. They argued that the system should mirror that of students’ report cards, in which a school would get an A only if it earned 90 percent or more of all available points.
Schools get points in the grading system for the percentage of students scoring at grade level and making gains. At the secondary level, percentages of students taking accelerated courses and graduating also are included.
A bill to shift the grading criteria over a decade did not pass, with several observers noting that the proposed changes would lead to the vast majority of schools receiving failing marks, sending the message that schools are not strong enough. That would run counter to the message DeSantis and incoming education commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas delivered on Monday.
Reciting the improved performance numbers, Kamoutsas said: “You are talking about hundreds of thousands of students that are benefiting from the policies that this governor has championed.”
Florida schools “are improving across the board,” he added, citing the administration’s relentless pressure to get rid of “woke” indoctrination, focus on the basics and support parental rights.
This was Pinellas’ second straight year without any D or F schools, and 60 percent of all schools including charters earning an A. Among the notable results: Bardmoor and North Shore elementary schools improved from C to A, and Lakewood High moved to A from B.
Pasco saw 31 schools including charters earning an A, up from 25 a year ago. Some of its struggling schools made strides, including Cox Elementary, which moved from a D to a B. It had faced a state-mandated outside takeover if it earned another D.
Pasco continued to have some low-performing campuses, though, with eight receiving D’s and one, Chester Taylor Elementary, getting an F. Taylor recently had a new principal assigned.
“We remain deeply committed to the schools that are facing challenges,” superintendent John Legg said. “It’s not just a moment of celebration, it’s a call to action and our path forward is focused, data-driven and rooted in the belief that all students will succeed.”
This is a developing story. Check Tampabay.com for updates.