Polk Students' FCAT Scores Improve

LAKELAND | Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores in Polk County improved in nearly all grades from last year, but the county still trails the state and more than half of Polk’s sophomores will need to retake the reading portion to graduate.

The state today released the 2008 FCAT reading and math scores for fourth through 10th graders and the FCAT science scores for fifth, eighth and 11th-graders. All three portions are scored on a 100 to 500 scale.

“I’m very happy,” said Wilma Ferrer, the district’s senior director of assessment, accountability and evaluation. “We went up in every single grade except a dip in fifth grade.”

In fifth grade, scores slipped by five points in reading and stayed the same in math. Fifth graders also slipped in the state.

There were increases on the 10th-grade FCAT reading and math tests, which high school students need to pass to receive a diploma.

In reading, Polk’s sophomores improved their average reading score from 300 to 306 and their math score from 323 to 327.

Still, nearly half of the sophomores will need to retake the reading portion to graduate. About 20 percent will need to retake the math portion of the FCAT.

Statewide, education officials reported improvements at every grade level except fifth grade reading, but top officials worried that gains may have leveled off in early grades.

Seventy percent of fourth-graders performed at or above grade level, which is two percentage points better than last year but a point below 2005.

In Polk, 65 percent of fourth graders performed at or above grade level, an increase of two percentage points from last year.

That flattening of the trend line is a signal, said Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith.

“We as a state need to move to the next steps, the next generation of focus on reading achievement and academic excellence,” Smith said.

That includes a greater focus on pre-kindergarten through third-grade literacy and increased standards and expectations, he said.