For the third straight year, Alachua County Public Schools has earned an ‘A’ grade from the state based on the academic achievement of its students.

The Florida Department of Education has released school grades for 2008, and they show that 67% of the district’s schools earned A or B grades this year, which is defined by the state as high-performing.

That includes Metcalfe Elementary School, which raised its grade from an F to an A.

“We’re so excited,” said principal Felicia Moss. “It took a lot of hard work, but we had a game plan and we followed it just like a championship team.”

The two other schools that had been rated as F schools last year—Hawthorne Middle/High School and the Professional Academies Magnet at Loften—both went up two letter grades to a ‘C.’ The district had no F schools this year.

“I am so proud of the work that the students, staff and administrators at these schools did to boost their grades,” said Superintendent Dan Boyd. “It was not an easy task, and they deserve a lot of credit.”

District officials will spend the next few weeks analyzing the grades and the FCAT data that went into the grades—including overall scores, yearly gains and the achievement of the lowest-performing students. The FCAT scores of those students are counted several times in the state’s grading formula, and schools face an additional letter-grade penalty if not enough of their lowest performers meet the state standards.

Both Gainesville High School and Chiles Elementary School earned an A grade under the formula, but were penalized a letter grade due to the performance of a handful of their lowest-performing students. Santa Fe High School’s grade dropped to a C for the same reason.

“The state’s formula emphasizes struggling students very heavily,” said Deputy Superintendent Sandy Hollinger. “We’re making progress, but we have more to do with those students.”

Boyd says the district’s overall ‘A’ grade is particularly gratifying.

“Florida’s grading formula is very challenging,” said Boyd. “For the district to maintain that high level of achievement three years in a row says a lot about the quality of education we’re providing to the young people in our community.”