Points of Pride
-
2023-2024 Points of Pride
District Level Accomplishments
- FOUR of our Magnet Schools have been recognized on a national scale once again!
- The Project Lead the Way National Distinguished School Award is going to be awarded to:
- Lockhart Elementary Magnet School
- Stewart Middle Magnet School
- Young Middle Magnet School
- Middleton High School
- The district has only had a school win this award one other time in its history when Young Magnet won it in 2018!
- All High Schools in Hillsborough County Public Schools Rank Among Top in the Nation According to U.S. News & World Report.
- Two district schools appear in the top 50 in the state of Florida on the newly released Best High Schools report, while ALL high schools appear in the overall state and national rankings
- 27 of our magnet schools have been named National Magnet Award winners by Magnet Schools of America
- Hillsborough County Public Schools was awarded $7.9 million in funding for clean school buses as part of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first Clean School Bus Program Grants Competition.
- Hillsborough County Public Schools Elementary and Middle Schools Named Among the Best in the State by U.S. News & World Report rankings.
- Sixty-one of our district schools earned a Best Elementary Schools badge and 32 schools earned a Best Middle Schools badge for placing among the top 40% in the state on the newly released Best Elementary Schools and Best Middle Schools report.
- Thirty-eight Hillsborough County Public Schools Recognized as 2022-23 Schools of Excellence by Florida State Board of Education. Schools of Excellence are schools whose school grade calculation is in the 80th percentile or higher for at least two of the last three school years. The Florida Legislature established the Schools of Excellence program in 2017 as an initiative to recognize and reward Florida’s highest-performing schools.
- The National Merit Scholarship Corporation has announced over 2,900 winners of the National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities, 36 of which attend Hillsborough County Public Schools.
Divisional Accomplishments
Student Support and Federal Programs
- Exceeded the state target for proficiency rate for students in HCPS with IEPs in 4th and 8th grade math.
- Exceeded the state target for closing the gap in proficiency rates for students with IEPs in 4th, 8th, and high school reading.
- Exceeded the state target for percentage of students with IEPs aged 3, 4 and 5 who are enrolled in a preschool program attending a regular early childhood program and receiving most of the special education and related services in the regular early childhood program.
- Exceeded the state target for the percentage of students who are no longer in secondary school, had IEPs in effect at the time they left school, and were enrolled in higher education or in some other postsecondary education or training program; or competitively employed or in some other employment within one year of leaving high school.
- Offered over 30 training courses for over 300 parents of students with disabilities.
- Over 700 students participated in the Special Olympics.
- Five Burnett Middle School students on access points participated in the Robofest World Championship Finals in Michigan, earning an Award of Appreciation. They ranked 10th place out of 15 other finalists in the Jr. Exhibition category. Our HCPS students were the ONLY group with disabilities represented out of 16 countries!
- Hillsborough County Public Schools in conjunction with the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida was awarded a $7.2 million grant titled:
Unlimited Potential Initiative: Empowering Students, Families, and Communities through Statewide University Partnerships and High-Needs Districts
This will allow for the expansion of six additional Community Schools over the next five years. - The Early Childhood department successfully delivered our first Early Childhood Symposium in April 2024, providing professional development to over 50 early childhood teachers and community providers on early literacy strategies, aiming to improve school readiness rates.
- The HCPS Early Childhood Literacy Mobile Classroom was launched to the public in April 2024, providing families and students access to developmental screenings, literacy, and technology.
- Over 4,500 HCPS staff members have completed the Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training during the 2023-2024 school year. Since 2018, over 21,000 employees have become Youth Mental Health First "Aiders".
Academic Services
- HCPS was honored nationally by the Center of Fine Arts Education as the winner of the 2023 Best District Comeback from Covid/Youth Art Month Award.
- Alonso HS administered their first International Baccalaureate examinations, becoming the fifth HCPS HS that give students the opportunity to graduate with an IB diploma.
- Martinez MS Robotics IQ teams won the Regional State Championship for the Northern region of Florida and went on to compete in the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas in May 2024.
- The national Spelling Bee winner was an HCPS student from Turner-Bartels K-8 school.
- Over 72,000 college credit opportunities were made available to HCPS students.
- Shore Elementary Magnet School became the third school in HCPS history to be named a National Magnet Demonstration School.
- The Dual language Program was successfully launched at 3 middle schools (Pierce, Smith and Shields) to continue the path of biliteracy for the program completers.
- Seniors earning the Biliteracy seal increased by 24% from 1,560 to 1,933 students.
- The Congressionally Funded Arts Education Grant awarded Transformation Network $1,986,353 to incorporate arts education (Straz Center and Tampa Museum of Art) to impact approximately 39,000 economically disadvantaged students attending Transformation Network schools.
- The Joy of Reading Partnership with Bess the Book Bus initiated a Pop-Up Mobile Library with 8 Transformation Network Schools (Broward, Edison, Lockhart, Palm River, Potter, Shaw, Sheehy, Sulphur Springs) to provide free books for home libraries for students 3-7 years of age. This program provided 45 Pop-Up Book Fairs, distributed 16,050 new books, equipped classrooms with 1,879 books, and visited 8,876 students.
- The HCPS Literacy team hosted the first annual literacy symposium at Chamberlain HS in May 2024. Over 1,000 teachers participate in professional learning relating to the science of reading.
- Randall MS had 2 projects selected to be flown to the International Space Station. SY 23-24 was the 11th year to have projects launched to the ISS.
- HCPA had 96 schools at all grade levels participate in the annual Black History Brain Bowl.
Technology
- Refreshed classroom student computing technology, adding over 49,000 student laptops, 725 laptop carts, and nearly 2,000 iPads throughout the district.
- Upgraded almost 7,000 classrooms to Newline smart panels.
- Upgraded over 4,000 classrooms to utilize the Audio Enhancement classroom audio system.
- Upgraded the district’s primary Financial and Human Resources system in January.
Human Resources & Capital
- Processed 1511 total Personnel
- Processed 2297 Support Personnel
- Hiring of Highly Qualified staff (3800+)
- Attended or Hosted 113 Recruitment Events
- 40% of employees participate in Vitality4U, the district’s comprehensive wellbeing program.
- 95% of employees who participated in our 2024 Wellbeing Culture Survey agree the district's wellbeing program has had a positive impact on their life.
- Employee participation in onsite mammograms through the Mobile Mammography Bus increased by 21%.
- Trained and supported a network of 240 Wellbeing4U Champions to enhance individual employee and school culture.
- Implemented an innovative observation and feedback system for educators, garnering a 90% endorsement rate from educators who found it to be beneficial.
- Facilitated and supported evaluations process resulting in a 91% satisfaction rate among employees.
- Strategically place College of Education pre-service teachers in Transformation Network and high needs schools to provide diversified experiences prior to hiring as full-time teachers.
- The Clinical Education Team have presented with the 2023-2024 USF Outstanding Partnership Award for exemplary achievement and continuous contribution to facilitating and supporting partnerships between HCPS (Hillsborough County Public Schools) and Universities.
- Implemented the Supporting Teachers in ESE (Exceptional Student Education) Prep (STEP) Program, which hired, trained, and supported 22 teachers in high need positions of exceptional student education instruction.
- Facilitated a program to utilize clinical educators’ interns as substitute teachers to fill teacher absences.
- Successfully Onboarded 57 new leaders in best practices for supporting employees in the workplace and managing critical incidents.
- Settling all union contracts and 3 full contract books by November 2023 (earlier than recent history).
- Implemented a process to award an Advanced Degree Supplement for over 3000 instructional employees
- Mental Health America awarded us the silver award for the Bell Seal.
Family & Community Engagement - Developed a Community Partnership Alliance comprised of a diverse group of community leaders who are committed to creating the best possible educational experiences for our students, by leveraging the unique perspectives and resources of our community leaders.
- Inaugural Community Partnership Alliance, launch | 50 invited community leaders
- Facilitated ongoing parent education through the Fathers and Families initiative to ensure that our fathers/male caregivers are equipped with skills that will enable them to advocate for their child’s well-being, build capacity to assist their child(ren) with academic learning, and increase parent engagement.
- Eighty-five % of students of the fathers/male care givers who participated in Fathers and Families Initiative, had less than 20 absences.
- Ninety-one % of students of the fathers/male care givers who participated in the Fathers and Families Initiative, had zero Out-of-School Suspensions.
- Delivered Parent Education via the Parent School Partnership (PSP) Program to empower parents and schools to build authentic partnerships and strengthen parental skills and advocacy for their children's education.
- Ninety-three % of students whose parents participated in the PSP program had less than 20 absences.
- One hundred % of the students whose parents participated in the PSP program had zero Out of School Suspensions.
- Increased 190 to 200 the number of schools that have an active PTSA.
- Facilitated an ongoing professional learning series for all school-based FACE Ambassadors to equip school-based liaisons with resources and strategies that help them partner with family and community members in support of overall school improvement.
- increased opportunities for parental voice to be a part of the decision-making process and overall school improvement on school campuses from 18,790in 2023 to 21,740 in 2024.
- Coordinated a Summer Camp SPIN for Immigrant students for newly arrived monolingual learners to participate in language enhancement summer camp designed for language acquisition and cultural understanding.
Budget & Finance
- Balanced operating budget, expenditures less than revenue.
- Healthy and stable fund balance, in 2011 the district’s fund balance was less than 3% and the district was reporting monthly to FLDOE to a fund balance of $147.5 million and in 2023 the district’s fund balance was of $330 million.
- Bond rating has been upgraded to an affirmative A rating and the outlook went from negative to stable.
Operations
- HCPS Chief of Security and Emergency Management, John Newman was appointed to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission.
- Continued success of the HCPS SecurityEM, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that provides financial support to HCPS students and staff, NOPE, and Miracle Outreach, which assists female students who have been victims of human trafficking.
- Land Swapped with the City of Plant City 16.29 +/- acres for the Plant City Career Center.
- The Operational Effectiveness team successfully coordinated and executed more than 7 Media Center refreshes during the 2023-2024 school year and oversaw the planning and purchasing of all Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment (FFE) for Adum PK8 School.
- The Operational Effectiveness team planned and hosted on-site events for the Tampa Bay Technical High School Architectural Advisory Board to include students, HCPS staff, and industry professionals with an emphasis on career planning and student recognition.
- Broke ground in May 2023 at High School UUU in Wimauma, Hillsborough County. This campus, our largest ever, will accommodate 3,400 students with 358,958 square feet on a 99-acre site, costing $176 million. It is set to open in August 2025.
- Completed construction of Kenneth E. Adum PK-8 Magnet School in South Tampa, opening in August 2024 for 1,620 students. This 165,832-square-foot school on 12.97 acres cost $63.4 million and features an International Studies magnet program.
- Funded by the 2018 Half-Penny Sales Tax Referendum, our department oversaw $120 million in projects during the 2023-2024 school year. These projects included new construction, HVAC overhauls, fire alarm upgrades, roof and window replacements, weight room expansions, and installation of artificial turf fields and rubber tracks.
Innovation & Strategic Planning
- HCPS students earned over 18,500 industry certifications and are on pace to exceed the prior year’s number of certifications.
- HCPS CTAE - Workforce Division has moved into the 3rd Highest Funded in the state.
- Miami
- Broward
- Hillsborough
- $300K dollars in Equipment Upgrades and Modernizing the Automotive Program at Plant City High School / Aparicio Levy Technical College
- Adult Education Served over 16,450 Adult Credit, GED, and ESOL students during the 23/24 school year, a 37% increase from the 22/23 (12,107) school year. Adult Education also Exceeded the FDOE student Measurable Skill Gains and the Student Academic Success Standards for All FDOE Adult Education programs.
- Adult Education opened 12 Graduation Advance Program (GAP Classes) on high school campuses to help over 450 high school juniors and seniors who were at least one grade level behind gain the credits needed to graduate on time with their senior class.
- The Adult Education Credit Recovery and GAP programs assisted K-12 Students in earning 17,804 half credits towards graduation during the 23/24 school year. During the 22-23 school year, Adult Education Credit Recovery students earned 11,212 half credits; this year, there was a 59% increase in credits earned through Adult Education Credit Recovery and GAP.
- HVK12+ Part-Time/Full-Time Sites completed 16,010 semester courses during the 23-24 school year (this number will increase as students are still working in courses from the school year)
- 64 AP exams passed during the 23-24 school year
- 22 from Full-Time HVK12 students
- 42 from Part-Time HVK12 students
- HVK12+ Credit Recovery Sites completed 9,198 courses during the 23-24 school year with 3,006 students that graduated during the 22-23 school year completing a credit recovery course
- HCPS increased the number of Purple Star Schools from 9 to 21 demonstrating our commitment to our military-connected families.
- Hillsborough Virtual K-12 won the FLVS Franchise of the Year Award for 2023-2024.