TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hillsborough students among top scoring on FCAT

ADVERTISEMENT

By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 30, 2009

Updated: 04/30/2009 05:04 pm

TAMPA - Hillsborough County eighth-graders remained among the top scoring students who took the writing portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, according to results released today.

Only two districts exceeded the average essay score posted by Hillsborough eighth-graders – 4.6 out of 6 possible points, the same score posted last year – and only two other districts matched the results.

Overall, the percent of Florida's fourth- and eighth-graders who received a passing grade of 3.5 or higher increased this year. The percent of the state's 10th-graders who passed dropped slightly, however.

On the writing test, students in grades, 4, 8 and 10 are asked to write a response to one of two randomly assigned topics.

In every grade tested, Hillsborough students fared better than the state average.

Eighty-seven percent of Hillsborough eighth-graders scored a 4.0 or higher, compared with an average 80 percent statewide.

Eighty-eight percent of Hillsborough fourth-graders received a passing mark, up from 75 percent last year, and 77 percent scored 4.0 or higher.

Eighty-two percent of 10th-graders in the county passed the test, the same as last year.

Students at the USF/Patel Elementary School posted one of the largest year-to-year leaps of any Hillsborough school. Ninety percent of its fourth-graders passed the test, compared with 45 percent last year.

The school received an F last year when it was managed as a charter school by the University of South Florida. USF asked the school district to take it over two weeks before classes began this fall.

When they got to work, teachers Anna Moody and Joanna Schaal said they put aside formulaic writing exercises and let students create.

"We really gave them the freedom," Schaal said.

While the results are used to calculate a school's grade, the writing scores don't determine whether students graduate from high school.

The most recent results represent the first rollout of FCAT scores that culminate in the release of school grades, which are expected around early July.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT