FCAT Scores Released

This week Florida’s long- awaited FCAT scores were released. You may have read about a delay due to a computer failure at NCS Pearson, the company contracted by the state to score the tests. The Department of Education is demanding remedies as they should. In fact, Pearson could face fines in excess of $3 million for their delay. While the testing company’s failure is unacceptable, I hate for it to overshadow the true progress being made: Florida middle and high schoolers continued five years of gains and posted higher math and reading performance at nearly every grade level. This year’s results show that Florida’s accountability standards are working but there is still tremendous progress to be made. The Legislature must maintain its commitment to raising standards, improving teacher quality and guaranteeing every student has access to a world class education.

Results from the Florida Department of Education:

Elementary School (Grades 3 – 5 reading and mathematics, and grade 5 science)

71% are reading at or above grade level, a decrease of one percentage point from last year, but an overall increase of 17 percentage points since 2001.

72% are demonstrating mathematics skills at or above grade level, an increase of 20 points since 2001, but flat compared to 2009.

49% of fifth grade students are performing at or above grade level in science, up three percentage points from last year and 21 points since 2003.

Middle School (Grades 6 – 8 reading and mathematics, and grade 8 science)

The percentage of students reading at or above grade level increased by one percentage point in grades six and seven to 67% and 68%, respectively.

The percentage of students demonstrating mathematics skills at or above grade level increased by one percentage point in grades five and seven to 63% and 61%, respectively and two points in grades six and eight to 67% and 68%, respectively.

43% of eighth grade students are performing at or above grade level in science, up two percentage points from last year and 15 points since 2003.

High School (Grades 9 and 10 reading and mathematics, and grade 11 science)

The percentage of students reading at or above grade level increased by one point in grade nine to 48% and two points in grade ten to 39%.

The percentage of students demonstrating mathematics skills at or above grade level increased by four points in grade ten to 73%.

38% of eleventh grade students are achieving in science at or above grade level, up one percentage point from last year and up five per-centage points since 2005.

District and school specific scores can be found by clicking here: http://fcat.fldoe.org/results/default.asp

Comments are closed.