3 minute read
Overview
Among the three Aspiration and Preparation indicators, Kindergarten Readiness and High School Graduation Rates in the Southwest Florida region improved from last year’s report. Kindergarten Readiness, the percent of pre-K students considered ready for kindergarten, improved to 51.1 percent in 2020, up from the 43.9 percent measured in 2019.6 Graduation rates in Florida were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2019-2020 academic year, as cancellation of state testing may have led to artificially inflated graduation rates throughout the state. Southwest Florida High School Graduation Rates improved, from 86.4 percent in the 2018-2019 school year to 89.8 percent in the 2019-2020 school year. Similar trends in these two indicators were observed for the state of Florida.
Third grade reading proficiency data were not available for the 2019-2020 academic year, due to cancellation of statewide assessment test administrations. Therefore, data from the 2018-2019 academic year are presented in this report (repeated from last year’s report).
COVID-19 and the cancelation of the spring 2019-2020 K-12 statewide assessment testing pursuant to Florida Department of Education Emergency Order No. 2020-EO-1 had the most direct effects on the Aspiration and Preparation indicators. It may take a couple years to fully understand the impact of COVID19 on students’ educational progress when data for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years become available.
Data by race/ethnicity and by gender in the Southwest Florida region are also provided for both Third Grade Reading Proficiency and High School Graduation Rates in this report. For Third Grade Reading Proficiency, none of the reported races/ethnicities – White, Latinx/Hispanic, and Black – achieved the 85 percent target rate. Only Southwest Florida students who identified as White achieved the 90 percent target rate for High School Graduation Rate (reaching a 91.7 percent rate). Latinx/Hispanic and Black students fell just below the 90 percent target, achieving rates of 87.9 percent and 89.4 percent, respectively.
The overall increase in Southwest Florida’s graduation rate appears to have been driven more by increases among Latinx/Hispanic and Black students compared to White students. For example, the graduation rate for White students in the region increased by 1.6 percentage points (90.1 percent in 2018-2019 to 91.7 percent in 2019-2020) compared to an increase of 5.3 percentage points (82.6 percent to 87.9 percent) for Latinx/Hispanic students and 6.4 percentage points (83.0 percent to 89.4 percent) for Black students. The difference was most pronounced in Charlotte County, where the graduation rate for White students increased 1.7 percentage points (88.6 percent in 2018-2019 to 90.3 percent in 2019-2020) compared to 11.6 percentage points (78.9 percent to 90.5 percent) for Latinx/Hispanic students and 11.9 percentage points (80.7 percent to 92.6 percent) for Black students.
6 The testing vendor utilized by Hendry County produced inflated scores in 2020. The region’s adjusted 2020 percent "ready for kindergarten” was 48.2 percent, still trending upward from 2019.
FutureMakers in Action
The EXCEL Bus
The School District of Lee County has a number of ongoing programs, including Career Ed Talks, Workforce Signing Day, Train to Gain and LeeBIA construction internships, virtual job fairs, and a variety career cluster-based events, for example in the culinary, engineering, education, finance, digital design and technology, and coding fields. But perhaps the most creative (and most fun!) initiative is the new Excellent Career Exploration Lab (EXCEL) Bus, commanded by FutureMaker Kelly Thawley, Career Specialist, Career & Technical Education, School District of Lee County. The EXCEL Bus is a converted school bus that will house five interactive kiosks highlighting a different career path and bringing early career exploration directly to Lee County 5th graders. The official rollout is scheduled for the fall of 2021. Kelly earned a Commercial Driver’s License (way to go, Kelly!) and will be driving the bus to each elementary school in the upcoming school year.7
7 For more information on the program, visit the Florida College Access Network website: https://floridacollegeaccess.org/local-
