New Curve for Grading High Schools TAMPA (WUSF) - Florida's public high schools will soon have to measure up to additional standards due to new legislation aimed at holding educators accountable. Senate Bill 1908 calls for high schools to be graded on more than just their FCAT scores.

Starting in the spring of 2010, only 50 percent of a high school's grade will come its FCAT performance. In addition, the state will measure graduation rates, SAT and ATC scores, the percentage of students taking advanced classes and improvement among at-risk students.

Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith held a telephone conference with educators to discuss fine-tuning how the state will measure growth and decline.

"The question is what are we trying to build our accountability measure around and show growth toward?" Smith asked. "What is our high standard we're tyring to achieve?"

The new law dictates categories that must be measure, but state educators must develop the grading formulas. A school's grade not only carries prestige or penalties, it also determines bonus money.
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