(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) – Lakewood Ranch High School has often gotten A grades for being a top school in the state of Florida, but a new distinction for LRHS has been set with 59 of its 90 ranked teachers having been evaluated as “Highly effective.” That’s the highest ranking a Florida teacher can receive.

Thirty of the school’s teachers were rated “Effective.”

Principal Linda Nesselhauf reacted to the news.

“To see so many of our teachers rated as Highly Effective and Effective helps explain why our school has been so successful. Combine those teachers with our hard-working students, their families and everyone else in our community and it’s no surprise Lakewood Ranch enjoys success year in and year out. The state teacher rankings just show what we’ve known for a long time. Lakewood Ranch has great teachers who do great work every day.”

The rankings are issued by the Florida Department of Education.  To become highly qualified a teacher must –

• be fully certified or licensed by the state.
• hold at least a bachelor’s degree from a four-year institution.
• demonstrate competence in each core academic subject area they teach. Competence is demonstrated through a series of classroom observations.