Manatee County graduation rate up again; future murky with new state tests

Here's a K-12 education puzzle.

This week, the Manatee County School District proudly and rightly enjoyed great news from the state. The student graduation rate jumped 2.2 percentage points over last year, leapfrogging the statewide average by the thinnest of margins. Manatee's 2015 rate reached 77.9 percent, besting the state figure of 77.8 percent.

Perhaps best of all, the district's graduation rate has soared by 13.2 percentage points since 2011, an incredible increase in only four years.

Still, the school district signaled it is not satisfied and will continue to work on further improvements. Kudos to educators and students for this graduation success.

Then, the day after that news broke, the Florida Board of Education announced the adoption of a new formula on passing scores for state standardized tests, which are tougher now under the brand new Florida Standards Assessments. As predicted, fewer students passed statewide. And this is a result of a compromise on test scores and school grades as the board agreed to adopt a more moderate system sought by school boards, district superintendents, teachers and parents -- despite heavy lobbying for a tougher system.

We'll have to wait and see how this new system influences graduation rates in the future.

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Manatee County graduation rate up again; future murky with new state tests ."