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.
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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) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gradelevel | Reading(achievement level 3 and above) | Mathematics(achievement level 3 and above) | ||||
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
BAKER | ||||||
3 | 66 | 65 | 64 | 70 | 71 | 67 |
4 | 60 | 58 | 56 | 59 | 62 | 67 |
5 | 57 | 56 | 56 | 50 | 46 | 49 |
6 | 58 | 62 | 57 | 66 | 64 | 66 |
7 | 66 | 61 | 63 | 62 | 62 | 62 |
8 | 53 | 59 | 54 | 55 | 59 | 55 |
9 | 53 | 55 | 56 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 43 | 60 | 51 | NA | NA | NA |
BRADFORD | ||||||
3 | 44 | 48 | 57 | 38 | 45 | 46 |
4 | 50 | 47 | 50 | 40 | 51 | 50 |
5 | 46 | 54 | 48 | 36 | 42 | 46 |
6 | 39 | 35 | 43 | 43 | 30 | 36 |
7 | 42 | 41 | 42 | 39 | 41 | 35 |
8 | 44 | 38 | 47 | 45 | 11 | 5 |
9 | 48 | 41 | 44 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 37 | 45 | 51 | NA | NA | NA |
Gradelevel | Reading(achievement level 3 and above) | Mathematics(Achievement level 3 and above) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
CLAY | ||||||
3 | 68 | 69 | 66 | 68 | 65 | 64 |
4 | 70 | 66 | 69 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
5 | 65 | 67 | 66 | 61 | 58 | 60 |
6 | 70 | 69 | 72 | 68 | 65 | 66 |
7 | 64 | 60 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 68 |
8 | 59 | 57 | 61 | 61 | 58 | 50 |
9 | 60 | 59 | 58 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 57 | 60 | 61 | NA | NA | NA |
COLUMBIA | ||||||
3 | 60 | 60 | 62 | 59 | 60 | 61 |
4 | 61 | 60 | 61 | 60 | 62 | 62 |
5 | 62 | 61 | 62 | 58 | 50 | 56 |
6 | 53 | 61 | 61 | 50 | 49 | 52 |
7 | 51 | 53 | 56 | 46 | 47 | 51 |
8 | 53 | 49 | 48 | 48 | 31 | 43 |
9 | 45 | 49 | 49 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 44 | 46 | 50 | NA | NA | NA |
Gradelevel | Reading(Achievement level 3 and above) | Mathematics(achievement level 3 and above) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
DUVAL | ||||||
3 | 51 | 55 | 51 | 56 | 56 | 57 |
4 | 59 | 56 | 55 | 61 | 61 | 64 |
5 | 56 | 58 | 57 | 55 | 53 | 52 |
6 | 51 | 53 | 54 | 46 | 49 | 47 |
7 | 54 | 52 | 49 | 52 | 51 | 47 |
8 | 49 | 52 | 53 | 47 | 49 | 37 |
9 | 48 | 47 | 49 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 45 | 50 | 48 | NA | NA | NA |
FLAGLER | ||||||
3 | 62 | 68 | 65 | 62 | 58 | 63 |
4 | 66 | 65 | 64 | 58 | 62 | 67 |
5 | 63 | 66 | 69 | 54 | 52 | 53 |
6 | 68 | 66 | 72 | 60 | 60 | 65 |
7 | 59 | 64 | 64 | 57 | 67 | 62 |
8 | 56 | 59 | 63 | 53 | 53 | 58 |
9 | 51 | 55 | 51 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 50 | 54 | 54 | NA | NA | NA |
Gradelevel | Reading(achievement level 3 and above) | Mathematics(Achievement level 3 and above) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
NASSAU | ||||||
3 | 66 | 69 | 73 | 65 | 67 | 73 |
4 | 72 | 68 | 66 | 76 | 75 | 77 |
5 | 73 | 69 | 72 | 69 | 67 | 70 |
6 | 67 | 69 | 69 | 64 | 60 | 65 |
7 | 64 | 66 | 65 | 62 | 64 | 69 |
8 | 63 | 60 | 63 | 57 | 57 | 55 |
9 | 60 | 62 | 60 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 60 | 59 | 67 | NA | NA | NA |
PUTNAM | ||||||
3 | 43 | 48 | 48 | 50 | 45 | 51 |
4 | 53 | 45 | 47 | 63 | 58 | 59 |
5 | 54 | 48 | 48 | 55 | 49 | 49 |
6 | 48 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 48 | 48 |
7 | 45 | 48 | 43 | 43 | 51 | 48 |
8 | 43 | 42 | 43 | 40 | 44 | 38 |
9 | 37 | 42 | 41 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 40 | 40 | 44 | NA | NA | NA |
Gradelevel | Reading(achievement level 3 and above) | Mathematics(Achievement level 3 and above) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
ST. JOHNS | ||||||
3 | 75 | 76 | 76 | 73 | 71 | 73 |
4 | 79 | 76 | 79 | 74 | 75 | 80 |
5 | 77 | 77 | 79 | 71 | 71 | 74 |
6 | 75 | 75 | 79 | 72 | 72 | 72 |
7 | 75 | 75 | 77 | 72 | 72 | 75 |
8 | 71 | 72 | 77 | 77 | 58 | 60 |
9 | 72 | 73 | 72 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 70 | 74 | 75 | NA | NA | NA |
UNION | ||||||
3 | 64 | 59 | 51 | 74 | 73 | 73 |
4 | 68 | 71 | 65 | 69 | 85 | 82 |
5 | 57 | 60 | 66 | 60 | 52 | 71 |
6 | 65 | 63 | 66 | 54 | 62 | 62 |
7 | 65 | 63 | 66 | 62 | 56 | 66 |
8 | 57 | 62 | 56 | 60 | 57 | 49 |
9 | 51 | 49 | 61 | NA | NA | NA |
10 | 53 | 52 | 59 | NA | NA | NA |