Education

Supt. Keith Leonard: Escambia Schools Build on Historic First “A”

• Ahead of the Aug. 12 start of school, Superintendent Keith Leonard tells how data tracking, pacing guides, and expanding K-8 models helped push Escambia County Public Schools to its first-ever district “A,” and what it will take to keep it.

School starts back Aug. 12 for Escambia County students, and Superintendent Keith Leonard joined me on Rick’s Blog Live to talk about a year that changed the conversation around the district: Escambia County Public Schools earned its first-ever “A” grade, with 19 schools earning an A rating.

Leonard was quick to credit the people doing the work.

“It was a lot of hard work by a lot of really, really good people. Our students were focused. They showed up every day, every day ready to learn.”

The Numbers Behind the Turnaround

Leonard pointed to the district’s middle schools as one of the clearest signs of progress. Escambia’s middle schools had the number one middle school acceleration rate in the state two years ago, and were number three this year. Five of the district’s eight middle schools earned an A.

• 19 schools earned an A grade this past year
• 5 of 8 middle schools earned an A
• Middle school acceleration ranked #3 in Florida, down slightly from #1 two years ago
• Goal for this year: 86.8% of schools performing at the same level or better, up from 83%

Leonard was careful not to over-promise: “I won’t try to procrastinate or tell you that we’re going to have 19 A’s like we had this past year, but we had 83% of our schools either perform at the same level or better.”

Tracking Every Student, All Summer

Leonard described a summer-long process of reviewing individual student data with school leadership teams before the year even starts.

“I really take it back to when I was teaching and coaching. You watch the video to see where you could get better. Well, we’re doing that with data, student data.”

The district employs a data scientist and has built out what Leonard calls tracking of “corridors of concern”— areas where student mobility and housing instability create academic risk. That same data process extends to a districtwide system of pacing guides used across all 52 schools, ensuring a student who transfers mid-year lands in roughly the same place in the curriculum at their new school.

Expanding K-8 Options

West Pensacola, Cordova Park, and Longleaf elementary schools have added middle school grade levels, with sixth graders at those schools outperforming their peers at traditional middle schools, according to Leonard. Longleaf is adding seventh grade this year and is on track to become the district’s first full K-8 school beginning in the 2027-28 school year.

What to Expect on Enrollment

As of interview time, the district’s enrollment stood at 31,572 students, in line with projections. Last year, the district had projected losing around 380 students, but instead lost roughly 1,000. Leonard noted the pressure isn’t unique to Escambia County, citing a report that Broward County has 50,000 empty seats districtwide.