JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In a visit to Jacksonville on Monday, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that Duval County Public Schools is celebrating a Grade A rating for the first time in history.
The governor shared the news at Oceanway Elementary School.
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“Duval’s gone from B to A! Congratulations!” DeSantis said.
While Duval celebrates a major win, districts across the state made growth during the 2024-2025 school year, too.
Twenty-eight school districts received an A grade, with 31 districts at a B grade, and only eight districts receiving a C grade. No districts received a D or F grade.
Here’s how other Northeast Florida districts performed:
- Baker: B
- Bradford: B
- Clay: A
- Columbia: B
- Nassau: A
- Putnam: C
- St. Johns: A
- Union: B
Click here to see how your child’s school performed
DeSantis credits the advancement to the state’s new approach to end-of-year testing. This school year marked the third year since the state has adopted its Progress Monitoring Testing concept. With the new model, students are evaluated at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year.
With year-round, real-time data, teachers and parents can get help for students before the end of the school year.
RELATED: Duval County Public Schools achieves an A grade for the first time ever
“We decided that we would institute reforms and embrace this concept known as progress monitoring. So, with progress monitoring, teachers, students, and parents are provided real-time time continuous, actionable assessments at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year,” DeSantis said.
This past school year, grades 3 through 10 grew 21 percentage points in language arts, and grades 3 through 8 grew by 44 percentage points in math.
The district also shared these stats to show how some individual schools made strides in growth:
Ten schools jumped two letter grades:
1. Andrew Jackson High (C to A)
2. Annie R. Morgan Elementary (F to C)
3. Holiday Hill Elementary (C to A)
4. Jean Ribault High (C to A)
5. Landmark Middle (C to A)
6. Long Branch Elementary (D to B)
7. Northwestern Legends Elementary (D to B)
8. Oceanway Elementary (C to A)
9. Pickett Elementary (C to A)
10. Rufus E. Payne Elementary (C to A)
- Both Andrew Jackson High and John E. Ford earned their first A-rating.
- Ed White High School earned its first B-rating.
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In the press conference, the governor announced a new, incentivized program for teachers.
With a new civics certification curriculum for teachers, state educators can take a course designed to strengthen the way teachers deliver lessons in Civics and History. The Civic Seal of Excellence Program comes with a $3,000 bonus, too.
To better teacher pay, the governor shared that the state has increased its allocation to teacher pay.
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“This year’s budget for teacher pay is $1.36 billion, so that’s an increase over last year of $102 million. So that goes to folks that are in the classroom, and we’ve made a lot of strides,” DeSantis said.
DCPS released this statement in response to the district’s historic grading:
“To ensure the momentum continues, Duval County Public Schools is launching a year-long communications effort titled ‘Duval Delivers.’ The campaign will spotlight school success stories, amplify instructional best practices, and maintain a consistent message of progress throughout the 2025–2026 school year."
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