Sanibel Island School Ranked Highest in State

The claim for years has been that small classrooms provide more quality. On the issue of student performances, less is more.



Now that formula appears to be the case for the overall performance of a school.



The Sanibel School, certainly one of the smaller schools in Florida, is the best place to get an elementary/middle school education in the state, according to Florida’s first-ever school rankings released recently.



The state Department of Education posted its best-to-worst special ranking of Florida’s 3,078 public schools, and the Sanibel Island school was the only Lee and Collier County institution to get a top-10 ranking.



Sanibel was the top-ranked combination school for elementary and middle school students.



The state ranked the schools based on the number of school grade points they received for the 2010-11 school year as part of the state’s school grading formula.For elementary, middle and combination schools, points are earned based solely on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, with points given for the percentages of students scoring at grade level or better on the FCAT or making learning gains.



For high schools, FCAT points are added into scores on non-FCAT components, such as graduation rates and participating in advanced classes.The state is touting the new rankings as an easy-to-read list that lets parents, taxpayers and others know how well their school or district is performing.



While this is all great news for anyone considering living on Island and sending their kids to the Sanibel school, the advantages go well beyond that.



A good school system is a benefit to the town where it is located. Of course it makes the area more desirable, but it makes it more livable as well.



When parents are intent on living where their children get the best education possible, they are often activists in their community, helping to build the town's infrastructure to be safe and child friendly. Better schools help to drive better libraries, as one example, and the Sanibel library is one of the highest rated in the state. And better schools more often than not create a school population that is curious about and helpful toward the area.



All of these factors enhance even a vacation rental guest's stay.



Sanibel is an island, but it is not an Island onto itself. It is involved in the greater community surrounding it and taking in all those aspects of society that create the most hospitable environment possible.