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FCAT reports to show children's progress
By STEPHEN HEGARTY, Times Staff Writer As the end of school approaches, parents across the state are starting to get results from their child's FCAT test this school year. For the first time, the report includes the child's test scores from the last school year, too. That pairing of this year's and last year's scores might seem as simple as it is logical, but it's a big leap forward for Florida testing and accountability. Until now, the state has not been able to chart an individual student's progress from one year to the next. Informative as the reports can be, parents will have to put in some effort to understand them. There's plenty for data-happy parents who want all the numbers they can get. The reports show scale scores, achievement levels, learning gains, even a little box showing the child's performance in specific content areas. For parents who just want to see how their child is doing in school, the report has answers if you look in the right place. "What parents want to know is, "Is my child reading at an appropriate level?' " said Patty Hightower, president of the Florida PTA. "And "Can my child add, subtract, multiply and divide at the level they should?' That's what parents are looking for." For some parents, the most helpful part of the report is labeled "Learning Gains." It's a short statement describing the child's progress -- or lack of progress -- in reading and math from last year to this year. For instance, for a child who posted a better three-digit score this year and who moved up one achievement level, the learning gains might be described like this: "Your FCAT Reading achievement level score improved over last year's score, and you have made good progress." A child who got a higher three-digit score but remained stuck in one of the lower achievement levels, might see a statement like this: "Your FCAT Mathematics achievement level score is the same as last year's. Your test score needs improvement. Talk to your teacher about ways to improve your achievement." Unfortunately, for some parents it might be too late to talk to their child's teacher. The reports were sent to districts late last week. That may be enough time for Pinellas to get the reports home to parents before school ends June 5. The same with Hillsborough County, which lets out on Thursday. But for many districts -- including Citrus, Hernando and Pasco, which let out on Friday -- the reports came out with no time to spare. "We got them out to the elementary schools, and even that was a real dash," said Linda Peirce, testing specialist for the Hernando County schools. "That's one of the things we talked to the state about," said Hightower, the PTA president, referring to the late delivery of individual scores. "But I don't know what they can do. We definitely don't want them testing any earlier" so they can get results sooner. Now that district and state level scores are out and individual student reports are on their way, the only thing missing is the annual release of the A-through-F school grades. That's expected in mid-June. This year the state is entering uncharted territory in terms of school grades. For the first time, the new learning gains account for half of the grade. As of last week, the Department of Education had not yet decided how to define learning gains. Some parts of the learning gains definition are easy: If a child scores higher and jumps from achievement level 2 to level 3, for instance, that's progress. But what if a student is stuck below state standards in level 2, but jumps from a low level 2 to the top of level 2? Is that enough progress to help his school's grade? The way those questions are answered could make the difference, for some schools, between an A and a B grade, or a D and an F. And now that the test scores are in, the state can analyze them. The Department of Education can see how many A's and how many F's will result depending on how learning gains are defined. "That's not going to be easy; there's a lot of things to consider," said Katherine Devine, director of research and evaluation for the Pasco schools. Will someone in Tallahassee also consider how the distribution of A's and F's might look during an election year in which education and student achievement are key issues? "It's naive to think some of those political analyses aren't going on somewhere too," Devine said.
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