District applauds improved schools - Miami-Dade - MiamiHerald.com

MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS

District applauds improved schools

A handful of Miami-Dade schools received praise for dramatically increasing their graduation rates.

BY KATHLEEN MCGRORY

KMCGRORY@MIAMIHERALD.COM

The Miami-Dade School Board went into the Thanksgiving holiday on a high note, recognizing schools that dramatically improved their graduation rates.

Among the highlights: Miami Edison Senior High, which increased its graduation rate by a whopping 20 percentage points. The figure reached 69 percent.

``And this was the school that two years ago was considered the most likely to be shut down by the state,'' Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.

Said Principal Pablo Ortiz: ``We worked 24-7 to get the students on their feet. Once they realized it wasn't too late for them, they started inspiring each other.''

Booker T. Washington Senior High in Overtown saw its graduation rate improve by 16 percentage points. And South Dade Senior High jumped by 11 percentage points.

Miami Northwestern boosted its graduation rate from 67 percent to 72 percent -- a record high since the state started keeping track.

``This is why Mr. Hankerson earns his money,'' Carvalho said of Principal Charles Hankerson.

Coral Reef, a nationally recognized magnet school in Southwest Miami-Dade, had the highest graduation rate in the district: 97 percent.

``We have achieved so much, so many successes in a difficult year,'' said newly named School Board Chairwoman Perla Tabares Hantman. ``I could not be more proud.''

In other business, the board:

• Approved applications for nine new charter schools, including the City of Hialeah Construction, Architecture and Design Academy. The board denied six other applications.

• Voted unanimously to sell a warehouse it owns in Overtown to a Miami community redevelopment agency.

The sale has been controversial because the Omni CRA wants to convert the building into a film studio.

The School Board put the old Miami Skills Center, 29 NW 13th St., up for auction earlier this year.

The CRA was the lone bidder, offering $3.1 million.

On Wednesday, the School Board voted to accept the bid, but not without debate from elected officials, film industry veterans and School Board members.

Carvalho reminded School Board members that the district ``did not advertise the property with any restrictions on future potential uses.''

``Our concern was that we were maximizing revenues to the system,'' he said.

Carvalho did, however, point out that a film studio could provide internship opportunities for Miami-Dade students.

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imk816 6 days ago
When you lower standards, cajole teachers not to fail students, and administrators can manually override grades statistics will go up. Of course none of these shennagins have ever occurred at any Miami-Dade school (LOL).
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radney 6 days ago in reply to imk816
You have some actual proof, or are you just unable to accept the competence and hard work of education professionals?

I am so tired of people making empty accusations and just repeating them over and over hoping the weak-minded will begin to believe the lies are true.
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3 people liked this.

platynum1 5 days ago in reply to imk816
On the contrary; standards have been raised, especially as it concerns standardized testing! Can't these employees and students be congratulated without snide remarks about what people THINK could be happening?
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reformedlawyer 6 days ago
Congratulations DCPS! Both of my girls got great education from pre K through HS, got into fine colleges, and were well prepared. Of course, the not dirty, not secret here is that schools with a lot of parental involvement soar, while those ignored by their communities don't, typically.
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Manny J. Delgado 6 days ago
Hankerson more than earns his money!!!!
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overtown 5 days ago
Through the chair..
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LINCOLNLIONS 5 days ago
Mr. Hankerson is an outstanding administrator. The responsibility to succeed is still with the parent and student. Go job Hank, continue to be the leader that demonstrates commitment and focus.
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Tow_Nater 5 days ago
Very good news, but I think The Miami Herald would best serve this community and the tens of thousands of children receiving a substandard public school education if they would concentrate on the waste and misstatement that for decades has reigned over the public school system. The Miami Herald should talk about the $15,000 per child spent by the Miami-Dade Public School system and the dismal results tax payers have received. Billions of federal, state, and county dollars and a small number of schools and questionable accomplishments is the story the media prints.

This is the results of all that hard earned taxpayer money:

“Only 16 percent of about 22,000 high school seniors retaking the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test have passed it.

Figures released in July of 2010 by the Department of Education also show 28 percent of nearly 8,600 seniors retaking the FCAT math test have passed. That compares to 20 percent of seniors passing the reading part and 26 percent the math portion last year.

Students get up to FIVE chances to take the FCAT, but if they still haven't passed both parts by the time they graduate they cannot receive a standard diploma unless they score well on college entrance tests.”

Source: Dept. of Education
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Nightstalker4848 5 days ago
It's great to see graduation rates go up, But Radney you are clueless if you don't think that teachers aren't told by admins that you need to lighten up on the amount of homework and to make tests alittle easier. When too many failures go out from a particular teacher in a class, some principals like to call them down and have a discussion.. Standards have been lowered in certain schools. And yes I have talked to teachers who have walked out of these discussions very ticked off. As for platynums1 comments, Teaching to one test doesn't make someone a better student or better graduate.. If you use shotty data to create your stats then it is what it is..

On another note. I will say Coral Reef is the real deal. No sugarcoating, No fixing, the workload is "HARD" and intense. Thats why Principals in the district usually send their children there.. It's the Harvard of high schools in Miami-Dade County.

Regardless of some of my comments the district is moving forward. There are so many eyes on education right now people are afraid to do nothing less then the right thing. Since the firing Dr. Crew. Miami Dade County has kicked itself into high gear.. The move to start looking though its own dirty laundry is pushing the district in the right direction. Fixing things that should have been fixed many years ago. Listening to people they should have listened to years ago. We can have a top notch system that everyone can truely be proud of, it is just making the strategic moves and having the guts to take chances based on good information.

Thank you to Mr. Feldman for putting solar energy agenda item up. I truely believe the district can benefit in long term cost savings on power.
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