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Making the grade just got harder for Florida schools. The State Board of Education passed tougher grading requirements in Tallahassee today. The Board conceded some of the strictest rules it was considering after parents and teachers complained, including a rule to give schools an automatic F if less than a fourth of its students can read at their current grade level. Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson says the meeting was productive for two reasons.

“Number one we want to move forward, we want an accountability system based on where Florida stands, we think that’s important. Number two, is a lot of dialog. You saw democracy in process, the give and take of how we should move and where we should move,” said Robinson.

The board discussed counting test scores from students with disabilities and students with English as their second language in the school grades. Rosanne Wood, a retired high school principal, says punishing schools for the challenges of their students isn’t fair.

“For these at-risk students who are having trouble graduating, instead of punishing schools if they don’t graduate on time, reward them for every student they do get to graduate on time and then the schools would be saying come on in,” said Wood.

The board voted to form a task force to study how to hold schools accountable for their disabled students without being too harsh.