Grade 3 dips in reading on FCAT

herald tribune
Florida educators beamed with pride last year when Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test results showed that far fewer third-graders were failing in reading.

But new FCAT results released Wednesday showed that their excitement might have been premature. This year -- for the first time in FCAT history -- the number of third-graders failing the test went up.

This year, more than 38,000 Florida third-graders could be held back for failing the FCAT, about 10,000 more than last year.

Schools in Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties followed that trend. State and local educators said they were not sure what caused more children to fail, except that perhaps last year's students just did exceptionally well.

Although more third-graders failed this year's reading test than in 2006, the number who failed was still lower than in previous years.

The results released Wednesday also showed that the percentage of third-graders meeting state reading goals dropped this year. The percentage of Florida students reading at grade level fell from 75 percent to 69 percent. State officials said just 6 of Florida's 67 school districts saw improvements.

Last year, educators praised efforts to boost student performance with intense remedial programs.

And despite the poor results, officials say they won't change their focus on remedial reading programs.

"We're going to see fluctuations," said Chancellor Cheri Yecki. "We've seen them in the past and we're going to see them in the future. We still need to stay focused on our reform efforts."

The third-grade FCAT results were the second wave of 2007 FCAT scores to be released. The state also released results for 12th-grade students who need to pass the FCAT to graduate. The number of 12th-graders who failed increased.

This year's third-grade results -- and the state's response -- show just how arbitrary the test scores can be, with student results swinging like a pendulum from one year to the next. Student test performance can be influenced by factors outside the school system's control. What works for one group of students may not necessarily work for the next.

The state's steadfastness was echoed by local districts, who said they will continue remedial programs implemented in the past few years.

"We're going to re-examine what we're doing, but we won't throw the baby out with the bath water based on one set of scores," said Rene Desjardins, assistant superintendent in Charlotte County. "If we were the only ones having bad scores for two years in a row, we would take a hard look at things. But we won't take an emergency shoot-from-the-hip reaction to it."

State law requires third-grade students to pass the reading FCAT to be promoted. But the state gives a number of exemptions, including some to students who are disabled or learning English. About half of the third-graders who fail the test move on to fourth grade because of the exemptions.

In recent years, the state has taken some of its focus off of elementary school reading programs and redirected resources into middle and high schools, where scores were lagging.

Locally, administrators say they have put more emphasis on math programs to boost scores. Their efforts may have paid off. As reading scores fell, Southwest Florida school districts all made gains in the percentage of students doing well on the math part of the test.

"The emphasis has been on reading, reading, reading," said Natalie Roca, Sarasota's director of research, assessment and evaluation. "But now there's a shift to math."

At Tuttle Elementary in Sarasota, after several years of not meeting federal benchmarks because of lagging test scores, math became a top priority, said Principal Tom Buchanan.

The school purchased a special computer program for students to spend extra time working on their math skills. Teachers also established goals and periodically tested students to make sure they were mastering skills. This year, 79 percent of Tuttle students met state goals on the FCAT, an increase of 27 percentage points.

"It's a real success story," Buchanan said.

School districts across the state also saw more 12th-graders fail the reading and math parts of the FCAT, which is required to graduate. High school students start taking the test in 10th grade and have about six chances to pass.

Statewide, about 22,000 students who retook the reading part of the test this February failed. About 8,000 failed math. But state and local educators point out that many of those students did not meet other graduation requirements anyway.

Although the actual number of failing 12th-graders went up statewide and in some local districts, Sarasota administrators say it is largely because they had more students retaking the test. The percentage of students who failed actually dropped.

Seniors who did not pass the FCAT this round will not be able to participate in graduation with their class. However, they be able to take the FCAT again after the date of graduation, usually in late May or June. If they still cannot pass it, they will receive a certification of completion, instead of a high school diploma.

Last year, 49 Sarasota County seniors, 1.9 percent of the class, received this certificate because they could not pass one or more sections of the FCAT.