Northeast Fla. school districts grow FCAT scores

Slightly over half of Florida students pass comprehensive assessment test

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – While scores released Friday morning show only slightly over half of students statewide passed their math and reading FCATs,  school districts in northeast Florida improved student performance on state assessments.

Results released Friday by the Department of Education show 58 percent of third through eighth-grade students passed the statewide reading assessment, up one percent from the previous year.

Fifty-six percent of third through eighth-grade students passed the math test, the same as in 2013.

LOCAL COUNTY SCORES AT END OF ARTICLE
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In science scores, 54 percent of fifth-grade students passed, up 1 percent from last year. Forty-nine percent of eighth-grade students passed the science test, a 2 point increase.

Third-graders who don't receive a passing grade can be held back and high school students must pass the 10th-grade FCATs before they graduate.

Ramon Turner is frustrated because the results were released on the last school day of the year and he just learned his son didn't pass and may have to repeat third grade at New Berlin Elementary.

"You don't know if your son will be able to move on with his peers or stay back another year, and it's just so hard and frustrating," Turner said. "He already did seven of the quizzes for the portfolio, so he's got to go to summer school, then there's seven more. And then they have to take the ready test. Then if he passes that, then I guess he'll get promoted. I not we don't have no options. After that we don't know."

While Duval County's scores were mostly higher than state averages this year  School Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti said he knows the scores remain significantly lower than those in Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties. He said change won't happen overnight.

"This year we didn't emphasize teaching to the text we emphasized building the capacity of our teachers so we put more emphasis on working with teachers and principals to improve the quality of instruction," Vitti said. "I think, as we go into next year, we will have to focus a little bit more on preparing kids for exams and I think we have to shift some of our resources to work forefront more with students than the adults."

"I applaud teachers and school leaders for their focus on increasing student academic performance," Stewart said. "As we transition to new standards and assessments next year, I am confident students will continue to succeed."

  • Clay County improved in three of the seven assessment areas from 2013, led by a 5-percentage point increase in eighth grade science and a 3-percentage point increase in grades 6-8 reading.
  • Columbia County improved in five of the seven assessment areas announced, including moving up 9 percentage points in fifth-grade science, a 5-percentage point increase in grades 6-8 math, and up 3 percentage points in both grades 3-5 math and grades 9-10 reading.
  • Nassau County is one of five districts statewide that improved in all seven assessment areas, led by a 6-percent increase in eighth grade science, 4-percentage point increase in fifth-grade science, and up 3-percentage points in both grades 3-5 and 6-8 math.
  • Putnam County improved in five of the seven assessment areas, moving up 2 percentage points in grades 9-10 reading, grades 3-5 math and both fifth-grade and eighth-grade science.
  • St. Johns County is also one of five districts that improved in all assessment areas. Included is a 4-percentage point increase in eighth-grade science and 3-percentage point increases in both grades 6-8 reading and grades 3-5 math.


Overall, statewide student achievement improved in most of the assessment areas released Friday. Compared to last year, students improved in reading by 1 percentage point in grades 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. In math, students improved by 2 percentage points in grade 4 and 1 percentage point in grades 5, 6 and 7. For science, students across the state improved 2 percentage points in grade 8 and 1 percentage point in grade 5.

Next year, a new assessment based on the Florida Standards will replace the FCAT 2.0. The Florida Standards for mathematics and English language arts stress a broader approach for student learning, including an increased emphasis on analytical thinking, school officials said. With the new and more rigorous standards, a new assessment was needed to measure student progress.

Florida's recent academic gains have received national attention. The Sunshine State jumped from 11th to sixth in the nation for educational quality in 2013. Florida has the highest graduation rate in the nation for Hispanic students. In the past decade, the number of Florida graduates participating in AP courses has more than doubled, and the number of low-income graduates taking AP courses has increased tenfold.

And Florida's graduation rate is 75.6 percent for 2012-13 -- an increase of 1.1 percentage points over the prior year and up 5 percentage points since 2010-11.

This year marks the last administration of the FCATs. Students will take a new exam aligned with the Common Core standards next year.

District Percentage Passing (Satisfactory and Above)
GradelevelReading(achievement level 3 and above)Mathematics(achievement level 3 and above)
 201220132014201220132014
BAKER
366 65 64 70 71 67 
460 58 56 59 62 67 
557 56 56 50 46 49 
658 62 57 66 64 66 
766 61 63 62 62 62 
853 59 54 55 59 55 
953 55 56 NA NA NA 
1043 60 51 NA NA NA 
BRADFORD
344 48 57 38 45 46 
450 47 50 40 51 50 
546 54 48 36 42 46 
639 35 43 43 30 36 
742 41 42 39 41 35 
844 38 47 45 11 
948 41 44 NA NA NA 
1037 45 51 NA NA NA 
GradelevelReading(achievement level 3 and above)Mathematics(Achievement level 3 and above)
 201220132014201220132014
CLAY
368 69 66 68 65 64 
470 66 69 65 65 65 
565 67 66 61 58 60 
670 69 72 68 65 66 
764 60 62 63 64 68 
859 57 61 61 58 50 
960 59 58 NA NA NA 
1057 60 61 NA NA NA 
COLUMBIA
360 60 62 59 60 61 
461 60 61 60 62 62 
562 61 62 58 50 56 
653 61 61 50 49 52 
751 53 56 46 47 51 
853 49 48 48 31 43 
945 49 49 NA NA NA 
1044 46 50 NA NA NA 
GradelevelReading(Achievement level 3 and above)Mathematics(achievement level 3 and above)
 201220132014201220132014
DUVAL
351 55 51 56 56 57 
459 56 55 61 61 64 
556 58 57 55 53 52 
651 53 54 46 49 47 
754 52 49 52 51 47 
849 52 53 47 49 37 
948 47 49 NA NA NA 
1045 50 48 NA NA NA 
FLAGLER
362 68 65 62 58 63 
466 65 64 58 62 67 
563 66 69 54 52 53 
668 66 72 60 60 65 
759 64 64 57 67 62 
856 59 63 53 53 58 
951 55 51 NA NA NA 
1050 54 54 NA NA NA
GradelevelReading(achievement level 3 and above)Mathematics(Achievement level 3 and above)
 201220132014201220132014
NASSAU
366 69 73 65 67 73 
472 68 66 76 75 77 
573 69 72 69 67 70 
667 69 69 64 60 65 
764 66 65 62 64 69 
863 60 63 57 57 55 
960 62 60 NA NA NA 
1060 59 67 NA NA NA 
PUTNAM
343 48 48 50 45 51 
453 45 47 63 58 59 
554 48 48 55 49 49 
648 48 49 50 48 48 
745 48 43 43 51 48 
843 42 43 40 44 38 
937 42 41 NA NA NA 
1040 40 44 NA NA NA 
GradelevelReading(achievement level 3 and above)Mathematics(Achievement level 3 and above)
 201220132014201220132014
ST. JOHNS
375 76 76 73 71 73 
479 76 79 74 75 80 
577 77 79 71 71 74 
675 75 79 72 72 72 
775 75 77 72 72 75 
871 72 77 77 58 60 
972 73 72 NA NA NA 
1070 74 75 NA NA NA 
UNION
364 59 51 74 73 73 
468 71 65 69 85 82 
557 60 66 60 52 71 
665 63 66 54 62 62 
765 63 66 62 56 66 
857 62 56 60 57 49 
951 49 61 NA NA NA 
1053 52 59 NA NA NA