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FCAT writing scores improveBy STEPHEN HEGARTY, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times published May 3, 2003
Just one day after hundreds of parents and students packed the Ponce de Leon Elementary School cafeteria for a celebration of writing, the Clearwater school learned Friday that it posted one of the biggest gains in writing scores in the state. Ponce de Leon students scored an impressive 4.1 as a group, up from a 3.5 the previous year. The state average this year was 3.8. "We work hard at our writing," said Lori Gaudreau, the teacher recognized as the writing guru at Ponce de Leon. "At our school writing instruction is a pre-K through fifth grade thing. Everybody works at it." The fourth-graders at Ponce de Leon helped the Pinellas County school district improve its writing scores again this year. Pinellas' fourth- and eighth-grade scores went up, while the 10th-grade scores held steady. All matched or exceeded the state average. The writing scores released Friday provide the first peek at Florida's annual evaluation of its public schools. Writing scores also are one piece of the puzzle that makes up Florida's A-through-F school grading system. On Monday, the state is expected to release detailed reading scores for Florida's third-graders and from the graduation test taken by 12th graders. At least 10,000 of the state's 12th graders failed to pass the FCAT again in March and will not be able to get a standard diploma in time for graduation ceremonies. In mid-May, the state will release the rest of the math and reading scores. Though the overall picture is incomplete, the news Friday was a good start. "We're very pleased with the results," said Deanna Texel, supervisor of elementary reading and language arts for Pinellas County schools. She pointed out that all of the district's elementary schools scored above a 3.0 this year, a first for Pinellas. Particularly encouraging were the gains at schools that struggled with their school grades last year. Gulfport Elementary, which was labeled an F school last year, joined Ponce de Leon with a 0.6 point gain, jumping from 2.7 last year to 3.3 this year. Given the strength of its writing scores, it appears possible that Gulfport can avoid an F this year, even if it shows little improvement in reading and math scores. Every Pinellas school that earned a D grade from the state posted a gain. Blanton Elementary made an impressive jump from 3.0 to 3.5. "I'm very pleased for those schools. They really worked hard," Texel said. The statewide writing test started a decade ago because Florida educators were unhappy with student writing skills. The first scores showed what everyone expected; students had trouble organizing their thoughts on paper. School districts, stung by the early results, revamped their writing instruction with the test in mind. After a decade of focused writing instruction, Florida students are doing much better on the test. Fourth-graders as a group scored in the 2.0 and 2.5 range when the test was first given. Now their scores are in the 3.5 to 4.0 range. Though some say Florida's focus on the writing test encourages formulaic writing, Richard Sterling, director of the National Writing Project at the University of California at Berkeley, gave the state high marks for making writing a priority years before other states. Sterling chaired the advisory committee of the Commission on Writing in America's Schools and Colleges, which recently issued a scathing report on the state of writing instruction in the United States. Sterling particularly lauded Pinellas County for its efforts. This year, Pinellas appears to have lost in its friendly rivalry with Hillsborough County. The two districts' 10th-grade scores matched. But Hillsborough was two-tenths of a point higher in eighth grade and one-tenth of a point higher in fourth grade.
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