The highest number of Florida elementary and middle schools in at least a decade received "F" grades in the first draft of state report cards issued Friday, despite efforts by state officials to restrict how far grades could fall.
In all, 107 elementary and middle schools — slightly more than 4 percent — received failing grades on the preliminary report cards. The numbers also include "combination schools" and high schools that don't have graduating classes. In 2012, 40 schools received "F" grades, amounting to just more than 1.5 percent. The department graded 21 more schools this year.
That marked the highest number of schools to get an "F" at least since the program started including learning gains as part of the report card in 2002. It came despite the State Board of Education agreeing to extend by a year a rule preventing schools from dropping more than one letter grade on the report cards.
But without the changes, officials said, 261 schools would have received failing grades.
The Board of Education changes were made after local superintendents warned of a looming collapse in school grades and said there were so many changes to the accountability system that it made it impossible to figure out what might be causing the upheaval.
The state has continued to ratchet up its expectations as it moves toward the nationwide "common core" standards, set to be completely implemented by the 2014-15 school year, and Education Commissioner Tony Bennett said he expected the "volatility" in grades to continue over the next three to five years.
"This is exactly why I made the recommendations I made to the board," he said.
In addition to the increase in schools with failing grades, the number of "A" schools dramatically declined, from 1,242 schools in 2012 to 760 in 2013. That marked a drop of 19 percentage points in the share of schools that received the highest mark.