Just another reason why folks flock to the Panhandle of Florida. Congratulations to Niceville High School and the rest of the Okaloosa County school district.
Niceville High reaps success
School ranked top 25 despite no prescreening of students
By KATIE TAMMEN
Northwest Florida Daily News 315-4440 | ktammen@nwfdailynews.com
Niceville High School is one of four Florida schools sharing a distinction: It has no special admission requirements, yet it earned one of the highest rankings in the state grading system. Niceville, which ranked 21st out of all Florida high schools after earning 1,370 of a possible 1,600 points, would have been second if the ranking were based only on schools without any type of admission policies. “One of the things I’m most proud of is we educate every student who comes into our school,” said Niceville High School Principal Marcus Chambers. “The mission statement of Niceville High School is ‘Educate all students,’ and that’s what we do.” All high schools in Florida received grades last week based on how well they performed on a set of criteria established two years ago. Under the criteria, all public high schools receive points for their performance on the FCAT and five other factors including participation in advanced placement courses, college readiness and at-risk student graduation rates. Of the state’s top 25 schools, the first 11 have attendance requirements varying from invitation only to applications with grade point average requirements. The 12th school requires an application for enrollment in its magnet programs. Similar policies for special programs or academies within a school applied to the 14th, 16th, 18th and 20th place schools in the state. At Niceville High School, students long have been encouraged to take accelerated courses such as Advanced Placement or AICE, whether they score perfectly on the end-of-the-year exams or not, said Donnie Pridgen, the advanced studies coordinator for the school. “You’re not selected to take the class, you select to take the class,” said Patricia Mixon, who teaches AP English at the high school. The philosophy is a departure from where the school began with AP courses but seems to be working well, said Mixon, who has worked at NHS for 37 years. Of the 1,228 AP exams taken by 803 Niceville students last year, 65 percent passed the test, Pridgen said. “We don’t put them in there just to make the numbers look good,” he said. “They need to be at their appropriate level.” According to Florida Department of Education officials, that same policy of emphasizing accelerated courses is playing out across the state. In the past year, the DOE has shifted school grade points around to place a greater emphasis on performance in accelerated courses, not just participation, said Cheryl Etters, a spokeswoman for the DOE. “It’s not just get the kids in there; it’s get them to do well,” she said. The DOE initially emphasized participation but is shifting that policy to fit more rigorous education standards. For example, last year, schools were awarded up to 200 points for student participation in accelerated courses and 100 for student performance. This year, schools could earn up to 175 participation and 125 for performance. As of now, the state hasn’t done any studies to see how many of the top schools have admission policies or special programs, but state officials are definitely aware of advantages for those schools in state grading criteria, Etters said. Admission policies are not taken into account for school grades, she added. The only other local school to make the top 25 was Northwest Florida State College’s Collegiate High School. It was ranked No. 2 overall and first out of all the schools designated for high-school grades only. It has an admission policy.
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