County's FCAT results passable

Some schools' went up. Some went down. But officials say none will receive an F grade from the state.

By SARAH SCHWEITZER

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 27, 2000

TAMPA -- Monday's latest results of student assessments are a mixed bag for Hillsborough County, with improved math scores in all grades but lower reading scores in grades eight and 10.

Hillsborough's dips and upswings mirrored state averages, where middle school and high school reading scores also fell slightly. But Hillsborough's averages remained higher than the state's.

The scores from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test will be used to determine the grades schools receive under the A-Plus plan. Those grades are expected to be released sometime in the next week.

Hillsborough was assured last week of having no F schools with the release of FCAT writing scores that were high enough to guarantee passing grades for all schools.

School district officials said Monday's results pointed toward better grades than last year and a likely decrease in the number of D schools.

Last year, when the first-year grades were distributed, 34 elementary schools and five middle schools received D's, totaling 24 percent of the district's schools. Seven schools earned A's. No Hillsborough school received an F.

Although Hillsborough did better on average than schools statewide, district officials said the more impressive fact was that the district did well among the 11 largest districts.

John Hilderbrand, the director of assessment, accountability and evaluation, said Hillsborough ranked third among the largest districts on math in all grade levels, fifth in eighth-grade reading and fourth in 10th-grade reading.

District officials were at loss to explain drops in middle school and high school reading scores. But they said that because statewide averages also fell, it had more to do with the test than with the students or the district.

"We are still doing better than the state, so it's a state issue and it's testing issue not an instructional issue," Hilderbrand said.

Chamberlain High School earned a 295 on reading compared with a 308 last year. It also dropped slightly in math, from a 313 last year to a 311. The scores range from a 100 to 500.

"I just don't know. I thought we would do better this year because we really have been working hard," said principal Henry Washington. "So I don't know why we would drop."

The lower scores were especially painful because the school had improved its attendance and dropout rate, other factors in determining grades. Last year the school earned a C and likely is faces the same this year.

"I really wanted to be a B school, and I thought we were going to get there," Washington said. One school celebrating the results Monday was Terrace Community School. The 160-student charter school for grades five through eight is based on teaching core subjects with small classes and plentiful tutoring.

The 2-year-old school got the highest score in Hillsborough on the eighth-grade reading and fifth-grade math tests, and the second-highest on the eighth-grade math test.

Nancy Kirk, a school founder, gasped with excitement upon learning the scores. She said the school had trained attention on core subjects with a no-excuses mentality.

"It's simple but it's a lot of work," she said. "It's not radical at all." The results released Monday included the scores of all students who took the test, including those students whose scores will later be carved out when grades under the A-Plus plan are determined. These students include children who are learning disabled and those who have been enrolled in English as a second language classes for less than two years.

As such, some schools' scores are expected to leap in the final analysis. All of which is why, district officials said, they were leery of predicting school grades.

"It's just impossible to guess at," Hilderbrand said.

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