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Big picture on FCAT appears brighter
By BARBARA BEHRENDT, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- Citrus students showed largely positive results on this year's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, but officials said there is still work to do to bring scores up. The FCAT results were released to school districts Wednesday, leaving officials scrambling to analyze the mountain of scores, achievement levels and points that make up the state's complex accountability system. "It appears that we're up in every place that the district had some problems last year," said Jan Morphew, the county's director of research and accountability. "In reading, math and writing in elementary, middle and high school we are performing better than we did last year."
Students take the FCAT reading and math tests in grades three through 10 and the writing test in fourth, eighth and 10th grades. Citrus County's scores were above the state in every category except third- and fifth-grade math and in the composite writing scores in eighth and 10th grades. There were also areas where the scores slid from last year, including fifth-, sixth- and ninth-grade reading and fifth- and seventh-grade math. But when Morphew examined how many students scored at what is considered an acceptable level, which is achievement level three and above, the district was higher than last year in every category. "That is what we're looking for," Morphew said. "We want 100 percent of our students performing at the higher achievement levels." In two of the three grades taking the writing portion of FCAT, scores were below the state averages. Morphew said that writing has not been the biggest push this year. "Our focus this year has been on reading," she said. "There is a limit on the number of dollars we have for our focus . . . and that's part of the dilemma." The results also showed that 71 percent of the 10th-graders taking the FCAT for the first time earned passing grades in reading and 82 percent passed in math. That compares to state passing rates of 58 percent in reading and 72 percent in math. While Citrus may top the state passing averages, the numbers still mean that more than a quarter of Citrus sophomores will have to take the test again in reading and pass it in order to graduate. Students must earn passing scores in reading and math in the 10th-grade FCAT to earn a diploma, but they have several chances. The raw school and district scores are just the first part of the formula that will eventually determine the state grade for each school in the state. Another part of that puzzle, a new piece added this year called "learning gains," is still several weeks away. That factor will consider how individual students have progressed from last year to this year. For the purposes of the school grades, the state takes an especially close look at how well the lowest-performing students in each school progress. The grades have become a central feature of Gov. Jeb Bush's educational accountability program and have been used in determining the distribution of special money for schools that do well. With this year's changes using learning gains as part of the grading formula, the crush of raw scores creates some problems. "The frustrating thing is that, in spite of all the information we have, we don't know what our school grades are going to be, and that's what the public sees," Morphew said. "Last year I could have made an educated guess, but this year I have no clue." While Morphew said she knows the public wants to see school grades, "for me the scores we got today are really what's meaningful. I'm concerned about how all of our students are doing at all grades," she said. Citrus parents likely will not see their child's FCAT scores by the time school ends on May 24. The scores are due into the county on that day, and each school will determine how to deliver the information, Morphew said. -- Times staff writer Steve Hegarty contributed to this report.
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