Beaches families considering Duncan U. Fletcher High School's AICE program or other Duval County high school acceleration programs face an admissions formula in which 66 of 100 possible points come from seventh-grade final grades and seventh-grade reading and math test results, according to a Folio Weekly investigation published Aug. 19. The district's formula uses seventh-grade results — not eighth-grade test scores — for those components.
The investigation, written by attorney and Folio Weekly owner John M. Phillips, reported that 36 points come from seventh-grade core-course final grades and 30 from standardized reading and math scores. The remaining 34 points come from the first two quarters of eighth-grade core courses.
Fletcher's AICE program has 150 seats for the 2026-27 cycle, according to the DCPS application process page. Other programs include Paxon IB (150 seats), Stanton IB (160), Samuel W. Wolfson IB (160) and Terry Parker IB (50). Applicants must earn at least 70 points, be proficient in seventh-grade reading and math under one of the listed assessments, and be enrolled in or have completed Algebra I.
Publication Timeline Raises Questions for Parents
DCPS's current application page lists a Dec. 1, 2025, to Jan. 15, 2026, application window. The Folio Weekly report says the district published its Overview of Programs, including the scoring formula, Nov. 6, 2025 — after the seventh-grade measures used for 66 points had been recorded.
The report also says an internal Oct. 6, 2025, staff handout covered similar admissions logistics and stated it was not for distribution to students and parents.
"I found out too late. That's the honest version," Bennett Phillips, 14, now a student at Paxon School for Advanced Studies, said in the investigation.
How Public and Private School Grading Scales Diverge
Florida Statute §1003.437 sets the public-school grade 6-12 scale: an 80-89 is a B with a GPA value of 3. The statute applies to public schools; it does not establish a required grading scale for private schools.
The Bolles School's published upper-school conversion chart uses plus/minus grades and assigns a B-plus a 3.5 GPA value in a non-honors course. Its public materials support the broader point that an 89 can receive a higher GPA value at Bolles than at a DCPS school, though the materials retrieved do not establish that a B-plus specifically corresponds to an 89.
Thus, under the state public-school scale, an 80 and an 89 both receive a B and a GPA value of 3.
Breaking Down the 100-Point Scoring System
The district's published point system is:
- Up to 36 points: Seventh-grade final grades in English, math, science and social studies — A = 9, B = 6 and C = 3 per course.
- Up to 30 points: one seventh-grade reading score and one seventh-grade math score; DCPS says it uses the qualifying score that yields the most points.
- Up to 34 points: eighth-grade first- and second-quarter grades in the same four core subjects — A = 4.25, B = 3.25 and C = 2.25 per course.
DCPS says it ranks eligible applicants from 100 down to 70 points and offers seats in rank order until programs are full. For non-dedicated magnet schools, zoned students are placed first.
Calls for Change Meet District Silence
The Folio Weekly authors call for DCPS to publish the formula at least 18 months before applications open and for the Legislature to revise the public-school grading statute. The investigation reported that DCPS had not publicly responded; the district page retrieved here lists only the 2026-27 cycle, not dates for 2027-28.
