Test scores a puzzle for Pinellas

Some went up as others slipped. School officials still are trying to make sense of the latest FCAT results.

By KELLY RYAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 27, 2000

For an overachieving school district accustomed to top scores, Pinellas County's results on the state's standardized tests are a baffling mixture of modest improvement and surprising downturn.

Pinellas County students beat the state average for reading at each grade level, despite a mystifying drop of 10 points for eighth-graders. Tenth-graders beat the state average in math scores, but showed no improvement over last year in reading. Eighth-graders dropped a point in math, tying the state average, which fifth-graders missed by a point.

With all the ups and downs, the county's curriculum experts say they will spend weeks, maybe a whole month, poring over the scores school by school. Generally, they said they saw signs of success -- but their reaction was more subdued than last week when Pinellas got word of its impressive state writing scores.

"We're doing well. Obviously, we would always want to lead the pack and do the very best," said Judith Westfall, the district's associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction. "It is hard to start making some really solid conclusions about anything until we get additional data."

With writing, reading and math scores in their hands, school districts now have three pieces that form the basis of the state's system of assigning letter grades to schools.

Pinellas officials refused to speculate about what kinds of A to F letter grades schools might get. Because scores are reported in a different manner this year, district testing officials said predicting would be a dangerous business.

This year, the state released scores for all students, including special education students and those with limited English skills. Most years, only scores for standard curriculum students are released, and those are the scores used to calculate school grades.

It would be impossible, Pinellas officials say, to accurately announce the schools that could be branded Ds or Cs without knowing how many students won't count.

"We don't have the individual kid data yet," said Alex Epanchin, the district's director of testing. "I think it's just too early to tell. It's just an unknown."

Dangers aside, it's safe to predict that principals and teachers at dozens of Pinellas schools will nervously await school grades. Pinellas already knows no schools will be Fs, but Ds are a different story.

In Pinellas, 20 elementary schools, six middle schools and one high school are perilously close to not meeting state standards in reading, math or writing -- which translates into a D. Once the state manipulates the numbers, will their scores improve?

Almost certainly, but no one can say whether the scores will improve enough to avoid a D.

Vivian Neumann knows her school is one such school on the edge, even though math and reading scores increased.

Pinellas Park Elementary School, where Neumann is principal, enrolls high numbers of special education students. The student population is highly mobile, which means some students' scores might have been counted that should not have been.

Pinellas Park was one of 11 Pinellas elementaries that scored a D in 1999. Neumann doesn't want a repeat performance.

With all the work her teachers and students did -- the smaller classes, a writers camp, 90 minutes each day set aside for reading -- she doesn't understand why there would be.

"Am I concerned? Absolutely! I would think any principal would say the same thing," Neumann said. "It is very difficult on teachers. They are doing their very, very best."

Districtwide, elementary students scored higher this year in reading and math. Tenth-graders maintained their reading scores, and improved significantly in math. It's the eighth graders that have given district officials pause.

Mirroring their peers statewide, eighth-grade reading scores plummeted though Pinellas still beat the state average. Math scores fell a point so Pinellas tied the state average.

At every level, in both disciplines, Pinellas officials say they have taken steps to avoid downward trends.

Some students are assigned to smaller, more nurturing classrooms run by teachers who have received special training. Some get after-school tutoring. A "Jump Start Algebra" course is offered in the summer so incoming ninth-graders can keep up with high school math. Specialized, computer-assisted reading courses are offered in some schools.

Is all of that enough? Pinellas officials say they will make course changes for the fall if the scores reveal that the district's efforts have been in the wrong place.

"We haven't really figured out what's happening," said Darian Walker, the district's supervisor of secondary language arts and reading.

For all of the testing and grading pressure weighing on principals, few knew that new scores were released Monday. Even those who had been tipped off said they had not had time to review the scores on the Internet and make sense of the results.

Tyrone Elementary School principal James Lott hadn't seen his school's numbers, but he did know they come at an inconvenient time. Several weeks into the summer, he said, it's tough to study the results and make positive classroom changes by August when students return.

But that's what he will do.

"Teachers feel the pressure to do better," Lott said. "I don't think anybody is going to be happy if their scores slip."

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