Marion County Eliminated Every "D" School This Year

Every public school in Marion County that carried a "D" grade in 2025 improved this year. All five of them. Fessenden Elementary, Legacy Elementary, Stanton-Weirsdale Elementary, and Wyomina Park Elementary each climbed to a "C," and Oakcrest Elementary jumped two full letter grades, straight to a "B."

That's according to the Florida Department of Education's 2025-26 school grades, released this week. It happened even as Marion County's district-wide grade dipped to a "C," missing a "B" by a single point under the state's newly adopted, tougher grading scale. The schools that were supposed to be the district's biggest problem weren't the story. They were the turnaround.

The Five Schools, Before and After

All five are Title I schools, and all five serve a student population that is 100% economically disadvantaged. That's not incidental to the story. These are the schools with the fewest resources at home, the highest mobility rates, and the steepest hill to climb on paper — and they're the ones that moved the most.

Oakcrest's Jump Stands Out

No other school in Marion County improved two full letter grades this year. Oakcrest went from a D to a B, a jump large enough that it now sits in the district's upper half for overall point percentage.

The number behind it: Oakcrest posted a 72% learning gains rate in English Language Arts and 63% in math. Those numbers reflect students moving forward from wherever they started, not just how many hit grade-level benchmarks. Oakcrest's raw achievement scores are still modest — 43% in ELA, 51% in math — which means most students aren't yet scoring at grade level. But they're closing the distance faster than almost anywhere else in the county, and under Florida's grading formula, that growth carries real weight.

Growth, Not a Miracle

It's worth being precise about what did and didn't happen at these five schools. None of them suddenly became high-achieving campuses. Achievement scores at all five remain in the 35-51% range across ELA and math — meaning a majority of students are still testing below grade level. What changed is the rate of improvement: learning gains at all five schools ran well ahead of their raw achievement numbers, in some cases by 20 points or more.

That distinction matters for anyone reading the grades at face value. A "C" or a "B" here doesn't mean these schools have caught up to the district's top performers like Ward-Highlands or Dr. N.H. Jones Elementary, both of which have held an "A" every year on record. It means the direction changed, and changed enough to move the needle on the state's scale.

Why This Matters Beyond the Letter Grade

Florida's school grades carry real consequences. Schools with a D or F for two consecutive years are flagged for state intervention, and dropping below a C can trigger additional oversight and funding restrictions. By moving off the D list entirely, all five schools avoid that path for at least another year — and Oakcrest, with a B, is now competing on the same tier as several of the district's longer-established elementary schools.

It also runs counter to a common assumption: that the highest-poverty schools are the hardest to move. This year, in Marion County, they moved the most.

What to Watch Next Year

The real test is whether this is a one-year jump or the start of a trend. Florida's grading scale gets stricter again for 2026-27, with the points required for each letter grade rising incrementally through 2028-29. Holding these gains — let alone building on them — will require these five schools to keep outpacing a bar that keeps moving up.

For now, the numbers are what they are: five schools that had a D last year, and none of them do anymore.

Sources

- Florida Department of Education. "School Grades." fldoe.org