Orange County and Jones High School are bright spots in Florida’s generally dismal high school physics picture

Physics enrollment in Florida’s public high schools was 4.2% lower in Fall 2020 than in Fall 2019, according to course enrollment data released by the Florida Department of Education last week. Since Fall 2014, physics enrollment has dropped about 20% in the state’s public high schools.

But there was a bright spot among Florida’s biggest school districts: Physics enrollment at Orange County’s public high schools was 19.8% higher in Fall 2020 than the year before. That is, 539 more students were taking physics in Orange County in Fall 2020 than in Fall 2019.

Remarkably, Orange County’s rise was led by Jones High School, a school with 1,600 students and tremendous socioeconomic challenges (the state lists a free and reduced-price eligibility rate of 100% for Jones). This fall, Jones had 251 students registered for physics – an enormous increase from the Fall 2019 number (20 students).

This is not the first time that Jones High School has been distinguished in physics. National Medal of Science winner Sylvester J. Gates, who is now the Ford Foundation Professor of Physics at Brown University and the President of the American Physical Society, took his first physics course at Jones High School – when it was segregated. Gates still visits Jones annually, and he has been inducted into the Orange County Public Schools Hall of Fame.

The Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 physics enrollments at Orange County’s traditional district high schools are shown below. In addition to Jones, there were significant increases in physics enrollment at Apopka High School, Evans High School, Freedom High School, Ocoee High School and Winter Park High School.