The test results also revealed a slight realignment among the county's top-scoring high schools.
By JAMES THORNER
Published May 16, 2003
Pasco County sprinted ahead of other Florida counties as measured by the 10th grade FCAT reading and math scores.
Pasco's rank in reading rose from 27th to 16th in the state. In math, the county improved its standing from 26th to 15th place.
Florida has 67 counties.
The importance of Pasco's high school upswing wasn't lost upon Sandy Ramos, assistant superintendent of the Pasco School District.
High-schoolers need to pass the FCAT to graduate. Those who fail it during their sophomore year can continue taking the test through their senior year, up to six times.
Students are graded on a scale of 1 to 5, known as "levels." Level 1 scorers in high school are presumed to have failed.
"Eight out of nine of our high schools decreased the number of Level 1 students in math," Ramos said after hurriedly digesting reams of FCAT data for grades 3 to 10.
The scores, released Thursday by the state Department of Education, also showed a slight realignment among the county's top-scoring high schools.
Land O'Lakes, the leading scorer in 10th grade among the county's nine high schools last year, fell to second place this year.
Mitchell and River Ridge high schools tied for first in reading, and Mitchell jumped ahead of Land O'Lakes in math.
The results were more mixed from some of the other grades that took FCAT. Test taking for reading and math begins in third grade and continues each year until 10th grade. Students were tested in February and March.
For eighth-graders, Pasco's position in the state dropped from 27th to 32nd in reading and from 23rd to 31st in math. Still, the county's score was a smidgen better than the state average.
Pine View Middle School, which had the highest scoring eighth-graders in 2002, remained at the top of its class in 2003.
Pasco fifth-graders showed a similar drop compared to the rest of the state. Pasco students slipped from 31st to 36th place in reading and from 33rd to 40th in math.
The county's top scoring fifth-graders in reading were at Sand Pine. Among fifth-grade math scores, Anclote Elementary emerged on top.
FCAT scores are critical in deciding which letter grade (A through F) the state will assign a school in June. High-scoring schools are eligible for state "recognition money" that amounted last year to $100 per student.
The evaluations take into account a school's demographics, so as not to punish schools loaded with lower-income and non-English-speaking students, who usually score lower on the tests.
Ramos had so much information to digest Thursday she didn't evaluate how Pasco ranked compared with other counties.
Instead, she focused on the reduction in the number of Pasco students scoring in the lower levels of FCAT.
"We actually were pleased," she said. "At every level - elementary, middle and high school - the number of students at Level 1 and 2 decreased and the students at Levels 2, 3 and 4 increased."
