Orlando Schools and Education

The City of Orlando
Located in the central region of the state of Florida, Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. Nicknamed "The City Beautiful" it is best known for the Walt Disney World Resort and the other theme parks and attractions of Universal Orlando Resort, SeaWorld, Gatorland, and Wet 'n Wild Water Park These famous attractions are the prime source of Orlando's tourism industry. However, Orlando is not all fun and theme parks; it is also home to the second largest university in the United States. The University of Central Florida is a research university founded in 1963 that originally had a primary goal of providing highly trained personnel to support the Kennedy Space Center.

Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) is the public school district covering Orlando, Florida and has about 175,000 students enrolled. The Orange County School Board, with board of seven elected officials, one for each geographical district, oversees this district.

As of the 2009-10 school years, the district had 178 regular attendance schools. Beyond this, it also supports an adult education system including six dedicated campuses offering night classes, four special education schools and many alternative education centers including charter schools.

Additionally there are many private schools throughout the district. Lake Highland Preparatory School is a Pre-K through 12th grade co-educational independent day school located in downtown Orlando. The curriculum includes 22 advanced placement courses and four foreign languages. This school strives for excellence as evidenced by 61 faculty members earning the ‘Gifted Endorsement’ teaching credential. Orlando Junior Academy provides for grades Pre-K through eighth grade. Having joined the Adventist Robotics League, this school offers an exciting Robotics Club to its pupils. The children are inspired to design, create and have the opportunity to expand their technical skills. Eastland Christian School offers Christian education for grades K to 12 and proudly utilizes both the ABeka and Bob Jones University programs. Many believe the ABeka curriculum emphasizing phonics, reading and mathematics delivers a higher standard than that used in most public schools. Students of Eastland Christian School frequently receive regional and state honors in competitions and consistently perform at least one year above the national level in standardized achievement testing.

Numerous schools both public and private demonstrate the high standards of Orlando's education. The 0.5% sales tax provides funding for an aggressive improvement program, however, due to rising land and material costs, exhaustion of revenues is occurring faster than expected. A continuance of this tax after its expiration date in 2012 appears likely.

To monitor and measure these improvement programs, the OCPS District Scorecard reports current data district performance within the five following areas.

• Intense Focus on Student Achievement
• High-Performing and Dedicated Team
• Safe Learning and Working Environment
• Efficient Operations
• Sustained Community Engagement

Detailed and public information is available on the OCPS site showing targets over a three to five year period as well as some of the strategies used to meet or exceed these targets.

Orange County Public Schools 2011-2012 Five Star Schools
The Five Star School Award recognizes that community involvement plays a major role in student success. Presented each year, this symbol of achievement goes to the schools that have evidenced the highest levels of community involvement. To encourage ongoing commitment, designated eligible schools must renew each year. Achieving this designation is the highest award for community involvement given by the Florida Department of Education. To achieve this award, a school must attain 100% of the criteria in the categories of Business Partnerships, Family Involvement, Volunteers, Student Community Service and School Advisory Councils.

Notable Alumni

• Actor Wesley Snipes
• Actor/comedian Wayne Brady graduated from Dr. Phillips High School
• Baseball player Zack Greinke graduated from Apopka High School
• Medal of Honor recipient Larry Smedley, actor Buddy Ebsen and astronaut John Young attended Orlando High School, now Howard Middle School

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