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Students progressing 'modestly,' report says

A review of the state's school system shows that students are making progress in reading, writing and math, but the increases are small.

TALLAHASSEE - Florida schools have been evaluated once again, this time by legislative analysts who concluded that students' performance in reading, writing and math has "increased modestly during the past four years."

The latest assessment, released Friday, was by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which last reviewed the state's school system three years ago.

The report acknowledges that Florida is making progress, said MacKay Jimeson, a spokesman for the state Department of Education.

Since 2001, the number of students who demonstrated some grade-level mastery of math has climbed 8 percent. The number of students who showed grade-level competence in reading climbed 5 percent. Those statistics are based on results from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Yet nearly half of Florida students still struggle to meet state academic standards in reading and math, according to the report. This year, 49 percent of the students scored below grade level in reading, and 44 percent scored below grade level in math.

On the other hand, the number of schools earning an A has climbed substantially from 894 two years ago to 1,259 this year.

"As the school grading criteria did not change during this period, the improved grades can be attributed to stronger student performance," the researchers said.

The legislative study also warned that Florida may not reach the federal goal of having all students proficient in reading and math over the next decade.

To achieve that goal, Florida will have to see reading and math performance climb an average of 5 percent to 6 percent annually. Instead, the state is seeing just 1 percent to 2 percent more students becoming proficient each year.

Earlier this month, the state released grades for public schools as well as assessments under the federal No Child Left Behind law, which judges whether schools are making "adequate yearly progress." Two of every three schools earned a grade of A or B under Florida's school-grading law. But three of every four failed to meet the "adequate yearly progress" benchmark.

Both grading systems are based on the FCAT.