Apopka school grades were posted by the Florida Department of Education this week. The Department of Accountability released letter grades for each school, Academic Achievements, and demographics of the school that affect the school.
Orange County School District received a ‘B’ grade from the State for 2023 under the new ‘Informational Baseline’ system. The 2022 grade was B. No grade was issued in 2021 due to COVID-19. OCPS was up to an A in 2019 from a string of Bs from 2016-2018.
Elementary Schools
Of nine elementary schools in the vicinity, one received an A, Wolf Lake Elementary. In consideration of the new grammar or ‘combination’ school in Apopka, Kelly Park School, it received an A as a K-8th school. Four elementary schools carried B grades and four earned C grades.
School-------------Grade----%---------% Economically
-----------------------------Minority----Disadvantaged
Wolf Lake----------A------62.1---------51.7
Apopka-------------B------80.2---------99.7
Dream Lake--------B------80.8---------100
Rock Springs-------B------69.8---------100
Zellwood------------B------77.5---------98.4
Clay Springs--------C------73.7---------100
Lakeville-------------C------85.3--------100
Lovell----------------C------85.4---------100
Phillis Wheatley---C------94.0---------100
K-8
Kelly Park School--A-----61.5---------52.3
You see that the A schools, Wolf Lake and Kelly Park, have 62.1 and 61.5 percent minority students and about half as many economically disadvantaged students as the remainder of the schools. The socioeconomic differences between the A and B grades are more telling than the letter grades show. The reason they list the percentage of minorities and the economically disadvantaged is how it impacts the total points earned.
Kelly Park School earned 335 total points, Wolf Lake earned 213 with more advantageous socioeconomic levels compared to the other elementary schools.
Apopka earned 167, Dream Lake 172, Rock Springs 150, and Zellwood 168 as B schools. As C schools, Clay Springs made 145, Lakeville 128, Lovell 112, and Phillis Wheatley earned 120.
Rock Springs and Zellwood both rose from Cs to Bs. All the others except Phillis Wheatley held their previous scores. None of the schools were designated as alternative or ESE centers.
Middle Schools
Again, Kelly Park School included a middle school earning that A with 335 points. Wolf Lake was close behind by earning 309 total points as a B school and Apopka made 258 as a C school. Just a little more work and Wolf Lake will be an A school!
School-------------Grade----%-------% Economically
-----------------------------Minority----Disadvantaged
Wolf Lake-----------B------71.4---------83.1
Apopka--------------C------80.4---------100
Piedmont Lakes---C------83.2---------
K-8
Kelly Park School--A------61.5---------52.3
High Schools
Apopka High School grades mimic the middle school grade alignments as far as the socioeconomic status and grade results go. Surprisingly, with many of our students in the area going to Lake Brantley, we look at their socioeconomic status and would expect their score to be much higher.
Their total points were very similar. Apopka total points were 381, Wekiva made 311, and Lake Brantley earned 383.
School-----------Grade----%--------% Economically
----------------------------Minority----Disadvantaged
Apopka--------------B-----72.6---------82.4
Wekiva--------------C------86.4---------100
Lake Brantley------B------51.6---------49.2 Seminole County
Schools of Excellence
Of the 375 elementary schools in the state that qualified as 2021-2022 Schools of Excellence we have 26 in Orange County, 14.42 %. We are fortunate to have one in Apopka!
Wolf Lake Elementary is our only School of Excellence in Apopka.
What can we/you/us do to help Apopka students and teachers improve their success in school thus improving their lives after graduation?
Volunteer in classrooms if you have a few hours a month. ADDitions School Volunteers help teachers, lunchroom, tutor students, prepare supplies, etc. My husband would plow the field at Westridge Middle School while I was inside teaching the preparatory material for crops. He spent every weekday he had off in the classroom and my students saw a positive role model in a hardworking man that was an Army Reservist. The assistant principal surprised us by nominating us for ADDitions+ team of the year.
https://www.ocps.net/departments/community_resources_/a_d_ditions_school_volunteers.
Donate items to a classroom or school. Classrooms and schools need support. Find a teacher or school to adopt. Ask for a teacher or one of the children you know, any grade level. Science and agriculture teachers need supplies. Art teachers need containers, brushes, canvases, pads, easels, pens, art pencils, and cameras. Do you have anything laying around? Call today.
Tutor students before or after school hours or on weekends or during the summer, you don’t need to get paid. So, you are proficient in typing or engineering, or you are a chef, or you aced calculus in high school, meet a student at the school library for free tutoring or agree with their parents to do it at the public library.
Offer fieldtrip sites to your business or job or bring equipment or products into the classroom for a presentation or demonstration. Students at all grade levels need to be exposed to farms, restaurants, medical facilities.
Donate rewards or gift cards. Do you have gift cards or rewards you do not use? Remember if you get something for the holidays you do not swoon over. Teachers and volunteers need rewards and prizes as incentives and to purchase supplies for the classroom and school. Drop them by your nearest school. You will be most appreciated.
We, as their village, are responsible for the decline of their society or upward soar of our children’s growth. We build them up or we run them down. I remember when parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and neighbors showed up daily at school to help and were ‘classroom parents’. They dropped off supplies all year long. Students never knew when someone that knew their parents might bop in to volunteer.
Smile here, it’s okay.
Dr. Phyllis M Olmstead, holds an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, UCF, an M.Ed. in Vocational Administration, UCF, and a B.S.A. in Agribusiness and Natural Resources Education, UF. She taught grades pre-k through post graduate education throughout Florida and was an administrator and doctoral professor and advisor at an international university. She lectured in person and via distance education around the world. She is an author and publisher.
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