Posted in Education

No real FCAT progress made in five years

   April 28, 2011

We’ve had the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test for over 10 years. School districts have had plenty of time to figure out how to prepare third graders to take their first FCAT test. Unfortunately, we aren’t seeing any improvement in Escambia County in reading scores for third graders:

READING Students Mean Score % 3 or above
2006 3278 310 72
2007 3136 307 68
2008 3245 311 71
2009 3155 313 72
2010 3325 311 71

Math is better. There was a breakthrough in Jim Paul’s last full year as superintendent and the math scores have leveled out since then:

MATH Students Mean Score % 3 or above
2006 3277 316 68
2007 3133 320 69
2008 3238 328 76
2009 3152 333 77
2010 3327 330 75

I was curious to see if all the drilling that the Escambia County public schools do on FCAT actually improve the test scores as a class progresses through the system. The answer is no. Reading scores drop immediately and never regain that third grade level.

Grade Year Students Mean Score % 3 or above
Third 2006 3278 310 72
Fourth 2007 3130 310 64
Fifth 2008 3086 299 62
Sixth 2009 3021 306 62
Seventh 2010 2972 314 63

 

The drop in math is worse–with 16 percent fewer students making 3 or higher on the test by the time they reach seventh grade:

Grade Year Students Mean Score % 3 or above
Third 2006 3277 316 68
Fourth 2007 3131 311 63
Fifth 2008 3087 327 56
Sixth 2009 3016 302 48
Seventh 2010 2974 300 52

When compared Santa Rosa County, the drop in reading scores 3 or higher is steeper, but Santa Rosa County has a similar problem:

Grade Year Escambia Santa Rosa
Third 2006 72 86
Fourth 2007 64 84
Fifth 2008 62 82
Sixth 2009 62 81
Seventh 2010 63 81
Drop since Third -9 -5

 

The math drop is almost identical, but Santa Rosa County third graders started with a higher percent making 3 or higher:

Grade Year Escambia Santa Rosa
Third 2006 68 86
Fourth 2007 63 79
Fifth 2008 56 72
Sixth 2009 48 68
Seventh 2010 52 72
Drop since Third -16 -14
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