A sign announces improvements at Hendricks Avenue Elementary in 2023. | Jacksonville Today
Published on December 1, 2024 at 5:07 pm
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Duval Schools was recognized this month for outstanding performance during a 2023-24 reaccreditation review. The accrediting organization, Cognia, named the district a “System of Distinction” because of its “focus on excellence in curriculum design and implementation, along with the strategic use of data analytics.”
“This recognition reflects your commitment to high-quality instruction, organizational effectiveness and a relentless pursuit of continuous improvement,” Cognia representative Dianna Weinbaum told the Duval County School Board at its November meeting.
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This was Duval Schools’ first accreditation review since Cognia began issuing the awards in 2021. Many districts in Florida are accredited by Cognia, and several have received the honor, including Miami-Dade and Lee this year.
“To not only receive accreditation but also be recognized by Cognia as a ‘System of Distinction’ is a testament to the dedication of our administrators and educators to excellence and continuous improvement,” said Paula Renfro, Duval Schools’ chief academic officer.
Then and now
Accreditation matters to school systems because it lends legitimacy. When students want to transfer to a different school district or apply to college, transcripts full of credits from an accredited school make the process easier. A district spokesperson calls accreditation a “quality assurance process.”
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According to financial records reviewed by Jacksonville Today, Duval Schools spends $1,200 per accredited school in dues to Cognia each year — which adds up to about $185,000 annually.
Cognia (and its predecessor) has been Duval Schools’ accreditation agency for about 70 years. The district first sought accreditation in the 1950s for several high schools. The Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools — to which Cognia traces its roots — awarded temporary accreditation to several schools in the 1950s, including Englewood and Ribault. However, the schools lacked resources considered essential — including gyms, auditoriums and library books — and so gave the district an ultimatum to improve their facilities or lose accreditation.
The Florida Times-Union reported at the time that then-University of Florida President J. Wayne Reitz cautioned that if Duval Schools lost their accreditation, it would “create ‘a most serious situation’ for students wanting to enter the university.”
According to the Times-Union, the district did not address the issues quickly enough and consequently “sunk to the deplorable level of losing state accreditation in eight schools and having every high school disaccredited with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.”
Duval’s academic achievement today
Duval Schools scored 385 out of a potential 400 points on Cognia’s education quality index. Though Cognia did not release the exact metrics it uses to award the System of Distinction honor, state data show Duval is slightly above the median for academic achievement among all counties.
The Duval school district, the state’s sixth-largest with about 130,000 students, ranks solidly in the middle of the pack, at No. 30 among Florida’s 67 school districts.
Duval is sandwiched geographically between two of the best academically performing districts in Florida: Nassau to the north ranks third, and St. Johns to the south ranks second. (St. Johns is often No. 1, but was unseated this year by Lafayette, a North Florida district with just two schools and about 1,000 total students.)
Every year, the state assigns letter grades to each school based on student performance on standardized tests. As a district, Duval earned a B this year, as it has for the past decade. Duval’s traditional schools outperform the district’s publicly funded, privately operated charter schools: More than 90% of traditional schools are a C or better, compared to 78% of charter schools.
“We are honored to support your continued success,” Weinbaum, the Cognia representative, told the board. “Together we can ensure that every student in Duval County receives the highest-quality education.”
