FCAT results trickle down to students

Schools let high school seniors and third-graders know whether they will pass on to the next level.

During second period at Seminole High School on Tuesday, senior Courtney Smith got a visit from coach Jim Berrill.

She and Berrill stepped outside the classroom and he showed Courtney a piece of paper. It said she passed the FCAT graduation test.

Courtney, 18, immediately got on the telephone to tell her grandmother the good news. Today, she has more plans.

"I'm bringing thank you cards and balloons," Courtney said. "I'll bring (coach Berrill) breakfast. He really helped me, and I want to thank him."

Around Pinellas County on Tuesday, educators pored over FCAT test scores to see which high school seniors earned a standard diploma and which third-graders rated promotion to fourth grade.

The phone calls and classroom visits started late Monday at some schools. At others, principals wanted a little more time to go over the data. They will notify parents this week.

"We haven't heard yet, but I can't wait," said Peggy Amorski, who has been on edge since she got a letter saying her daughter Jessie might be in danger of being retained in third grade at Sexton Elementary School.

Pinellas and other school districts sent out hundreds of letters warning parents of the possibility of retention. It appears many of them didn't have to worry.

Dawn Scott got the good news about her third-grade daughter on Monday, but doesn't mind the warning.

"You don't want parents saying, "Why didn't you warn me?' " said Scott, whose daughter, Sydney, attends Ozona Elementary School.

"Was I thrilled to get a piece of paper saying my child was a potential retainee? Absolutely not," Scott said. "But do I blame the school or the county? Absolutely not. They had to warn us."

For Pinellas and other school districts, Monday's announcement of the third-grade failure rates were worst-case scenarios. The state reported that 22 percent of Pinellas' third-graders flunked the FCAT reading test. That represents more than 1,800 kids.

But the number already is shrinking.

Dozens of children have qualified for promotion to fourth grade because they posted an above-average score on a national reading test given around the same time as the FCAT. Some third-graders who already have been retained at least once also will be promoted.

Others will qualify on the strength of their work and test scores collected in a portfolio by their teacher.

And over the next few weeks, before and after summer school "reading camps" ordered by Gov. Jeb Bush, more children will take another test and qualify for promotion. In Pinellas, the summer reading camps will run from May 28 through June 26 and involve intensive reading instruction for some portion of every day.

"That number is going to improve," said Elaine Cutler, assistant superintendent for elementary education for the Pinellas County schools.

The fate of most of the estimated 328 high school seniors who failed the FCAT graduation test is unlikely to change in time for graduation. A few will qualify due to a new state law that enables special education students to earn their diploma if school officials decide the FCAT doesn't accurately measure what they know.

For some of the students, the FCAT isn't the only thing between them and a standard diploma. The state says about 40 percent of the students who didn't pass the FCAT also lack the necessary credits or grade point average.

"That's the question we have to ask as we go through the results," said Cathy Fleeger, the assistant superintendent in charge of high school education in Pinellas. "Were these kids' graduations being held up only because of FCAT, or for some other reasons?"

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