Few who attended a summer camp tested high enough to become fourth-graders, but they can move on in other ways.
By DONNA WINCHESTER, Times Staff Writer
Published July 31, 2005
Despite giving up weeks of their vacation to summer reading camp, few Tampa Bay area third-graders scored high enough on a final exam to earn promotion to fourth grade.
Only 14 percent of the 403 Pinellas children who took the test scored well enough to be promoted. In Hernando County, only 28 percent, or 30 children, passed.
In Pasco County, 138 students will move on after passing the test. It is unclear how many took it.
Hillsborough officials are still waiting for schools to report scores for the roughly 1,500 children who took the test there.
The news comes just before the start of a new school year, which begins this week in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties and next week in Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties.
Even though few students who attended reading camp tested well enough to pass, the state has given them other ways to get to fourth grade. One route, which the state calls a portfolio, is composed of scores from a battery of tests.
When third-graders take these other tests, a lot more of them move on to the next grade.
Overall, 48 percent of the children who attended reading camp in Pinellas County earned promotion when those other factors were considered, said Carol Thomas, an assistant superintendent in charge of Pinellas elementary schools.
"We are pretty darned happy about it," Thomas said. "This was the second year of us establishing a very intensive reading program. I really believe they're catching up."
Pasco officials also were pleased with their overall results. Of the 1,020 third-graders at risk of being held back for failure to pass the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, 58 percent will be promoted based on other tests and evaluations.
"I think we're doing a better job," said Ruth Reilly, assistant superintendent for Pasco elementary schools. "I think we're getting more focused."
Passing the standardized test offered during the summer, called the Stanford 9, is difficult for struggling readers even after they've attended reading camp, educators say. Some think the camps, which averaged four hours a day for six weeks, simply were not enough to get children up to speed.
Many children who came within points of passing could be promoted this fall depending on how well they perform on another round of tests that will begin after the school year starts. But the best chance most of them will have to move on to fourth grade will come through their portfolios.
Taken as a whole, promotion via such alternative routes means that fewer of the 3,600 Tampa Bay area children who failed the FCAT will be held back.
But as the new school year gets under way, many children remain in limbo, not sure if they are third-graders or fourth-graders.
They are the ones who either opted to take the Stanford 9 after school starts in August or who are still waiting for their portfolio reviews.
Among them are the Williams triplets, who attend Bardmoor Elementary School in Seminole.
Nine-year-old Wesley, Winston and Warren all failed the reading portion of the FCAT and were told they would have to repeat third grade unless they could demonstrate in another way that they could be promoted.
Their mother, Shirley Williams, put their swimming lessons on hold and signed them up for reading camp at Maximo Elementary School. Rather than having them take the Stanford 9 at the end of the camp, she chose to hold off until they returned to Bardmoor to give them more time to practice. She expects they will take the test the first week of school.
The extra time also gave them a chance to adjust to their worst-case scenario: repeating third grade.
"If they have to go back into third grade, they're okay with that," Williams said.
She has already explained to the triplets that they'll be in third grade at least until they take the test.
Florida has been holding third-graders back for failure to pass the reading portion of the FCAT since 2003.
That year, it looked like one in four third-graders in Florida would be held back. To prevent that from happening, Florida lawmakers provided other ways for third-graders to move on. The state says these students are promoted for"good cause."
Students who already have been held back twice and special education students who have been held back once can be promoted, as well as those who earn a high enough score on the Stanford 9. Additionally, students can use the portfolios to earn promotion.
In 2003, nearly 38 percent of the 1,800 Pinellas third-graders scheduled for retention were promoted for good cause. More than 1,000 of the 2,900 Hillsborough third-graders who failed the FCAT were promoted.
