As expected, Flagler County’s writing scores for 4th, 8th and 10th graders, released today, fell precipitously as the state imposed a new writing standard and a new passing grade, but itself failed to convey those standards clearly to teachers and principals ahead of time.
standardized testing
School Chancellor, in Flagler, Touts Higher FCAT Standards as State Board Drops Them
Florida Public Schools Chancellor Pam Stewart’s 75-minute appearance before the Flagler County School Board, teachers and others Tuesday afternoon lent more PR than insights into the state’s latest FCAT fiasco, satisfying few locally.
FCAT Scores Plummet Statewide, Sending Education Officials in a Panic
The lower scores can have serious implications on school grades, students’ promotions and graduations, merit pay and evaluations for teachers. The state Board of Education called an emergency meeting for Tuesday to rethink its approach.
FCAT 2.0: Computer Snags in Flagler Schools Compound Students’ and Teachers’ Anxieties
FCAT testing began this week, and with a dozen tests administered by computer only, to save money, teachers in several Flagler schools are reporting students being arbitrarily logged off, losing work and time and worsening already stressful conditions.
FCAT Season From a Teacher’s Perspective: An Absurd and Demeaning Fraud
Florida’s FCAT autocrats have gamed the system into an exam only the dumbest can fail while hijacking teachers’ and students’ time for nine weeks of regimentation and secrecy worthy of classified military secrets, argues teacher Joann Nahirny in her latest dispatch from the trenches.
Florida Moves Past No Child Left Behind, But Not Past High-Stakes Testing
Breaking from from federal No Child Left Behind strictures, Florida can now use its own school accountability system, its A-through-F school grades, to rate the state’s public education system. But the waiver comes with strings attached.
Mediocre Results for Flagler Schools, Worse for Its Charters, in Controversial State Rankings
School-by-school rankings follow last week’s district rankings. Belle Terre Elementary and Indian Trails Middle ranked best, but still barely in the top quartile, while Flagler’s three charter schools scraped the bottom, in contrast with several top-performing charters elsewhere in the state.
Deaf District as Flagler Students Are Cheated Out of Dozens of Hours of Test Preparation
As high schools prepare students for the FCAT writing test in a few weeks and end-of course exams in May, Matanzas High School’s Jo Ann Nahirny explains how the district’s abbreviated schedule is hurting student preparation and will likely hurt results. Yet administrators seem deaf to alternatives.
Maintaining Low A, Flagler School District Is 29th in New Florida Ranking; St. Johns Is 1st
The new rankings by the state Department of Education are a first step in what will lead to school-by-school rankings in the near future. But those rankings are entirely based on FCAT scores, limiting their validity.
Testing Industrial Complex Descends on Florida To Fight Over $35 Million Contract
McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are in a battle over the right to provide testing items to the Florida Department of Education under a Race to the Top contract worth tens of millions of dollars.
Florida’s Next Testing Target: Pre-K Children
David Lawrence, a leading pre-K education advocate in Florida, is winning converts to his proposal that pre-K children be subjected to standardized testing to instill rigor and accountability similar to that of K-12 programs. He says it won’t be a “baby FCAT.”
From Bad to Worse: Flagler and Florida Students Near Bottom in National ACT Scores
There’s plenty of back-patting when Flagler students are compared to their Florida peers. When Flagler and Florida students are compared to students across the nation, the story is much bleaker.
Flagler School District Maintains A for 4th Year in a Row As Elementaries Shine
The A rating was powered by substantial improvements at Rymfire Elementary and other schools maintaining their high achievements. Charter schools didn’t do as well.
Flagler Students Rank 4th in Algebra in Florida, But New Test Won’t Affect District Grade
Because it’s a new, end-of-course exam, the state isn’t yet giving the test the weight it gives FCAT results, which is a disappointment to Flagler. Individual results, however, count for 30 percent of students’ final grade.
Latest FCAT: Gains in Early-Grade Reading, Losses in Math, Dismal Sciences
FCAT scores for Flagler County schools’ 4th through 11th grades show upper-grade reading scores faring poorly, and science scores faring worse as the district’s quality appears to approach the state average, rather than excel above it.
Widespread Declines in 3rd Grade FCAT, With 2 Exceptions–Rymfire and Imagine
The declines in passing rates in the regular schools were slight but consistent, and more dramatic at two charter schools. Also, 107 of the 990 students tested failed, jeopardizing promotion to 4th grade pending summer school results.
FCAT Writing Results Are In: Big, and In Some Cases “Abnormal” Improvements
Almost every school’s 4th, 8th and 10th graders improved in Flagler County, some dramatically so. State improvements were also unusually steep. It’s not clear why, though the district is welcoming the results.
FPC Improves from D to B, Matanzas High School Maintains a B, Heritage is an F
The Flagler County school district as a whole was tentatively awarded an A last year, pending today’s results. Heritage’s F is not expected top affect that overall grade.
Preliminary SAT Results Show Higher Scores for Flagler’s Class of 2010
In all but math at FPC, students at the county’s two high schools improved when compared with last year’s seniors. Some 1.6 million students took the test in the last round.
Scoring 7, FPC’s Rowan Littlefield Didn’t Just Conquer the World. He Conquered Pigdom.
Littlefield’s perfect 7 in his IB biology exam, scored on a global standard, marks the first 7 for any Flagler County student in any of the IB’s science disciplines.
Florida’s High School Students Near Bottom in College Readiness; Flagler’s Do Worse
The college readiness scores, trending downward for the state and for Flagler, undermine the state’s contention that it is improving education on a nationally competitive level.
Flagler District Scores an A for 3rd Year in a Row as 3 Schools Maintain A, 3 Drop Back
Belle Terre Elementary, Buddy Taylor and Indian Trails middle repeat their A rating. High School scores will be released in late fall.
State’s Largest Districts Find “Significant Anomalies” in FCAT Results and Demand Halt to Grading
In the latest FCAT testing scandal this year, superintendents want FCAT tests investigated before high-stakes school grades are released.
Individual Student FCAT Scores Available By Monday
Scores in printed format will be available for pick-up at individual students’ schools during regular business hours beginning July 12.
Flagler Schools’ FCAT Reading Scores Disappoint, Math Scores a Plus
Every grade but the 6th and 9th posted declines in reading. The district did better in math, either improving or holding steady in all grades except the 5th.
FCAT Scores, A Month Late, to Be Released After Untold Damage to Schools
The Department of Education and testing company Pearson are still playing word games over the cause and extent of the delay, which ruined district and student planning for fall.
3rd Grade FCAT Scores Well Above State Average; 11% Fail; Charter School Lags
The district’s overall score dropped 3 points in reading and improved one point in math. Heritage Academy is a drag.
Table: Complete 2010 FCAT Scores By School, Flagler 3rd Graders
School-by-school achievements in math and reading by proficiency level, including 2009 comparisons.
91% of Flagler High School Seniors Clear FCAT Graduation Hurdle; Most Others Fail Re-Takes
Flagler’s seniors down to their last chance to pass the FCAT before graduation did not do as well as last year’s seniors, although the numbers can be deceiving.
Students Fail. Cut Teachers’ Pay. Seriously?
The thinking behind Senate Bill 6 is rooted in the idea that teachers cause students’ success or failure. That’s wrong, argues Dave Riegel, a high school principal.