FLEMING ISLAND – In 2017 St. John’s Classical Academy received a C grade by the Florida Department of Education for its first year.

Just one school year later, the charter school has earned an A grade for the best improvement in the Clay County School District.

Vice Principal Ashley O’Neal said she’s thrilled about the jump.

“We are thrilled about getting an A,” O’Neal said. “Unlike many district schools, we don’t spend a lot of time practicing tests and we don’t do a lot of [Florida Standards Assessment] preparation — we stick to charter preparation from the [Barney Charter School Initiative of Hillsdale College] — so to get an A grade despite that, we are so excited.”

O’Neal said the first C grade last year made sense because the curriculum was new for students and teachers. Now that everyone is acclimated to the charter school climate, O’Neal expects the school to compile a streak of As with a newly-hired curriculum coach.

“Naturally, we’re going to look at our data and see what we can do to help our lower performing students, but we won’t be using that to necessarily drive our instruction,” O’Neal said. “We’ll continue the education that got us to where we are today, but we’ll also ensure that the students that need that extra help get that extra help.

“On the teacher-side of things, our full-time curriculum coach will work day in and day out to pour into teachers,” O’Neal said. “She’s an expert in general and an expert in literacy essentials, which is one of our teaching methods. She’ll be training teachers, coaching them and pushing them to be the best teacher they can be.”