May 21, 2008 10:55 am US/Eastern
3rd Grade FCAT Score Higher In Math, Reading
However Scores Lower When Compared To Nat'l Average
Individual Student Scores To Be Released Friday at 6:00 a.m.
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
There's good news and bad news with the latest round of results for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test given to 3rd graders earlier this year.
First the good news - reading and math scores are up this year. Also, African-American students narrowed the achievement gap with non-minority students in both subjects, and Hispanic narrowed the achievement gap in mathematics.
"I congratulate Florida's third grade students for performing at or above grade level in the FCAT reading and mathematics tests," said Governor Charlie Crist. "These results demonstrate the good work of our teachers in the classroom and the commitment by students and parents."
In the reading and comprehension test, 72-percent of third graders were able to read at or above grade level this year compared to 69-percent last year. The third-grade reading score is critical because students who don't pass the exam can be held back.
Click Here to see the FCAT reading results.
In math, 76 percent were at or above grade level compared to 74 percent last year.
Click Here to see the FCAT math results.
Overall, the Florida Department of Education reports African-American third-graders narrowed the achievement gap with White students by one percentage point in reading and two percentage points in mathematics while Hispanic third-graders narrowed the achievement gap with White students by one percentage point in mathematics.
Broward County Public School third-grade students produced the top FCAT results among the five largest Florida school districts in overall reading and math performance.
This year's third grade reading and math scores speak volumes for the excellent work occurring in classrooms throughout Florida," said Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith. "I'm particularly proud of our teachers, who continue to excel in their efforts to prepare our students for a lifetime of success."
Unfortunately, this year's scores were lower than last years on a norm-referenced test used for national comparisons.
Click Here to view the norm-reference test results.
2008 Third Grade Reading and Mathematics FCAT fact sheetClick Here to see how this year's scores compare to previous years.
Students in third through tenth grades took the reading and math portions of the FCAT in March while fifth, eighth and eleventh graders took the science portion
Scores for schools and districts will be released first followed by individual student scores on Friday, May 23rd.
Parents will be able to view individual student results starting Friday at 6:00 a.m. through the
FCAT Parent Network. However, parents won't be able to access those results without a login and password that should have been be provided by their child's school.
This is the second round of scores to be released from the 2008 FCATs.
Writing scores for 4th, 8th, and 10th graders were released about two weeks ago. They were virtually unchanged from last year.
More than three-fourths of public school students still scored at or above the minimum standard. Eighth graders did a little better in all categories while fourth- and 10th-grade students held steady or dropped a bit but the differences are all slight.
About 87 percent of Broward fourth-graders and 82 percent in Miami-Dade earned at least a passing score on the writing FCAT.
In Broward, 92 percent of eighth-graders earned passing scores on the essay test, as did 88 percent of Dade eighth-graders. Tenth-graders also were successful, with 84 percent passing in Broward and 77 percent passing in Dade.
The first round of scores do count toward schools' grades, but won't affect whether a student graduates or gets promoted to the next grade level.
The following is a list of the dates when results should be made available on the FCAT Parent Network.
- Grades 4-10 Reading & Mathematics (no earlier than the week of June 9th)
- Grades 5, 8, & 11 Science (no earlier than the week of June 9th)
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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