The 2024–2025 school year was a banner year for Leon County Schools, especially when it comes to school grade performance. What makes this success even more powerful is that many of the strongest gains came from our Title I schools…places where expectations are often underestimated.
As principal of Pineview Elementary School, I see every day what happens when students are given high expectations, consistent support, and a nurturing environment. Our school’s success is proof that all students, no matter what their zip code, can thrive in the right conditions.
Yet, despite these results, there are voices in our community who continue to dismiss the progress of southside schools. Some suggest our success is a fluke, or that test scores alone don’t reflect real achievement. Those claims not only miss the truth, but they also diminish the tireless work of teachers, students, and families who made this success possible.
What these voices often lack, however, is a true understanding of how school grades in Florida are calculated…and more importantly, the immense dedication behind those results.
In Florida, school grades are not handed out loosely. They are based on a combination of proficiency and learning gains. Students who meet proficiency in reading, math, and science certainly contribute to a school’s grade, but equal weight is given to how much growth students demonstrate from one year to the next. Emphasis is placed on the progress of students in the bottom quartile, the ones who start furthest behind. In other words, a school does not earn an A or B without both achievement and growth.
For years, schools in northeastern Leon County have consistently earned A’s because their students enter school largely prepared for success. In some cases, more than 75% of their students begin kindergarten ready to learn. Title I schools, on the other hand, serve communities where readiness levels are drastically lower.
At Pineview Elementary, located in the southwestern part of the county for example, only 24% of students were kindergarten-ready on their very first day. That means 76% of our students start school already two years below grade level. Repairing that gap is no small feat…it is a herculean task that requires years of effort, highly skilled teaching, and unwavering commitment.
So, when a Title I school earns an A or B, it reflects something extraordinary. It means that teachers have successfully accelerated learning for children who were not given the same head start as their peers. It means students who started far behind made measurable, life-changing progress. It means growth happened and not by chance, but through late nights, early mornings, community partnerships, and relentless belief in children who are too often underestimated.
Unfortunately, when detractors dismiss these accomplishments, their words often carry an undercurrent of bias. The suggestion that predominantly Black schools cannot truly be A or B schools reveals more about the speaker’s prejudice than it does about the schools themselves. The truth is, Title I schools earning high grades are not exceptions by luck; they are proof that with the right leadership, instruction, family and community support, children can rise above the barriers of poverty, absenteeism, and systemic inequities.
To minimize that achievement is to erase the resilience of our students and the sacrifice of our teachers. Every point earned on the state’s grading scale is the result of intentional instruction and hard work. Every letter grade tells a story…not of shortcuts, but of determination.
So, the next time you see a Title I school proudly announcing an A or B grade, know this: it is not a hollow accolade. It is a badge of honor, earned in the face of obstacles that schools in more privileged communities will never have to overcome. And rather than tearing these schools down, we should all be applauding the remarkable triumph they represent.
Carmen Conner is the principal at Pineview Elementary School in Tallahassee and Florida Tax Watch Principal of the Year for 2025.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: The truth about school grades, earned success at Tallahassee’s Title I schools | Opinion
Reporting by Carmen Conner / Tallahassee Democrat
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