FCAT

8th-grade scores on writing FCAT jump

But the percentage of fourth-graders posting a passing score remains steady, and 10th-graders' scores dip slightly.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published May 1, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - How well can Hernando County students write? Test results say they performed slightly worse than their counterparts across the state and didn't improve much from last year.

Hernando County fourth-graders and 10th-graders showed little progress in passing the writing portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, the results of which were released last week. The percentage of fourth-graders who posted a passing score of 3.5 or higher remained steady at 70 percent, while the percentage of tenth-graders who reached that benchmark dipped 3 percentage points to 72 percent.

Meanwhile, 74 percent of fourth-graders in the state scored at 3.5 or above. And 79 percent of tenth-graders scored 3.5 or above.

The county's eighth-graders, however, displayed significant progress. Seventy-two percent of eighth-graders scored at 3.5 or above, 7 percent higher than last year. That's still short of the 76 percent of eighth-graders statewide who scored at 3.5 or above.

"Overall, I'm pleased," said school board chairman Robert Wiggins. "But maybe we should start looking at ways to improve our performance."

Superintendent Wendy Tellone said she was proud of the work students had done, though she had hoped for better results.

"Next year, I'm hoping to see more progress," Tellone said. "We have got to work harder on the strategies we're using."

The writing portion of the FCAT is scored on a scale of 1 to 6. This year, the standard for passing rose from 3.0 to 3.5. The writing portion is considered less important than other sections of the FCAT because it isn't weighed as heavily in the formula for determining school grades and because failing students don't face penalties.

One of the strongest performances in the district this year came from students at Powell Middle School, which has endured much turmoil since the suspension of principal Michael Ransaw in November. Eighty percent of Powell students scored 3.5 or above, a higher portion than any other middle school in the county.

"The teachers, the staff, the students worked to do the very best they could," said acting principal Earl Deen. "They just stayed focused through all the distraction we had this year."

Among elementary schools, Chocachatti performed far better on the writing FCAT than other schools in the county. Eighty-four percent of Chocachatti fourth-graders scored at 3.5 or above, nine percentage points more than Eastside, the elementary school with the second highest rate of students with passing scores.

As an arts magnet school, Chocachatti can be selective in some of the students it admits. Other neighborhood elementary schools found success harder to come by.

Consider J.D. Floyd, a school that has seen its average score on the writing FCAT rise five times since 1998. This year, the school's average dropped from 3.8 to 3.6. And the percentage of students scoring at 3.5 or higher dropped from 77 to 68 percent.

At the high school level, Springstead led the way in Hernando. The school maintained its average score of 3.8, and 76 percent of students scored 3.5 or above.

Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 352-848-1431.

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 23:58:09]