{"id":72599,"date":"2026-07-02T19:48:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T23:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=72599"},"modified":"2026-07-02T19:48:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T23:48:32","slug":"we-are-pleased-to-share-that-pcps-maintained-its-b-grade-and-improved-it-for-the-2025-2026-school-year-read-all-about-it-in-the-districts-latest-press-release-below","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/07\/02\/we-are-pleased-to-share-that-pcps-maintained-its-b-grade-and-improved-it-for-the-2025-2026-school-year-read-all-about-it-in-the-districts-latest-press-release-below\/","title":{"rendered":"We are pleased to share that PCPS maintained its B grade and improved it for the 2025-2026 school year! Read all about it in the District’s latest press release below."},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Polk County Public Schools had another momentous year in 2025-26, and it showed up on our report card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PCPS maintained and improved its B grade, as many schools throughout the district earned higher marks, according to data released today by the Florida Department of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo years ago we recaptured our B grade, and we\u2019ve continued to build upon that success,\u201d said PCPS Superintendent Fred Heid. \u201cIt\u2019s especially notable because the state\u2019s academic criteria has only become more rigorous. Today\u2019s results are clear: PCPS is on a hot streak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PCPS students saw widespread achievement gains in state assessment data for 2025-26, improving in math, science and English language arts. In addition, the district\u2019s latest graduation rate climbed to a historic 87.7%. The grad rate for traditional PCPS high schools (excluding charter and alternative schools) was even better, rising to 92.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A total 29 traditional PCPS schools improved their own grades in 2025-26, which more than doubled the count from the year prior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten schools increased to an A, with two improving from a C to an A: Garden Grove Elementary and Scott Lake Elementary. Combee Academy earned its first-ever A, and Snively Elementary received an A for the first time in 20 years! In addition, Bethune Academy and Daniel Jenkins Academy earned their first As in well over a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixteen increased to a B, one of which saw an amazing jump from a D to a B: Dixieland Elementary. Griffin Elementary and Kathleen Elementary also reclaimed their B grades after many years of hard work, and Willow Oak School earned its first B! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three increased from a D to a C: Crystal Lake Middle, Kathleen Middle, and North Lakeland Elementary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again, there were no traditional PCPS schools earning an F grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PCPS uses an intensive progress-monitoring system to track students\u2019 academics, providing support based on each child\u2019s learning style. The district\u2019s formula has been highly successful, and Heid said PCPS will intensify its efforts to keep moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m tremendously proud of our students, teachers, staff and community. So many people have worked incredibly hard for these results,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s rewarding to know that we\u2019re on the right track, but we won\u2019t stop here. The future is bright for Polk County Public Schools.\u201d Individual school grades are available on the FLDOE\u2019s website at https:\/\/www.fldoe.org\/file\/18534\/SchoolGrades26.xlsx<\/a>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Polk County Public Schools had another momentous year in 2025-26, and it showed up on our report card. PCPS maintained and improved its B grade, as many schools throughout the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDdcL2ltYWdlcy03LndlYnA_Zml0PTQ0NyUyQzQ0NyZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IldlIGFyZSBwbGVhc2VkIHRvIHNoYXJlIHRoYXQgUENQUyBtYWludGFpbmVkIGl0cyBCIGdyYWRlIGFuZCBpbXByb3ZlZCBpdCBmb3IgdGhlIDIwMjUtMjAyNiBzY2hvb2wgeWVhciEgUmVhZCBhbGwgYWJvdXQgaXQgaW4gdGhlIERpc3RyaWN0JiM4MjE3O3MgbGF0ZXN0IHByZXNzIHJlbGVhc2UgYmVsb3cuIiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJkb2lzIiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.sWkT8BeI-TL0qv9FjQApFLyNdcXiDsocKe28U3mH6vkMQ"},"version":2,"media_source":"sig","attached_media":[{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/jetpack.com\/redirect\/?source=sigenerate&query=t%3DeyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvbGFrZWxhbmRnYXpldHRlLmluZm9cL25ld3NcL3dwLWNvbnRlbnRcL3VwbG9hZHNcLzIwMjZcLzA3XC9pbWFnZXMtNy53ZWJwIiwidHh0IjoiV2UgYXJlIHBsZWFzZWQgdG8gc2hhcmUgdGhhdCBQQ1BTIG1haW50YWluZWQgaXRzIEIgZ3JhZGUgYW5kIGltcHJvdmVkIGl0IGZvciB0aGUgMjAyNS0yMDI2IHNjaG9vbCB5ZWFyISBSZWFkIGFsbCBhYm91dCBpdCBpbiB0aGUgRGlzdHJpY3QncyBsYXRlc3QgcHJlc3MgcmVsZWFzZSBiZWxvdy4iLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImRvaXMiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.Ajm5HMC2OOom1tiKO2tM_fvO6BW_hMoWT2uyU4CpbKwMQ","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[26],"tags":[15086],"class_list":["post-72599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-schools","tag-pcps-maintained-its-b-grade-and-improved-it-for-the-2025-2026-school-year"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72601,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72599\/revisions\/72601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}