Commissioner Stewart Commends Northeast Florida Districts for Improving Student Performance on Statewide Assessments

June 12, 2015

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Commissioner Stewart Commends Northeast Florida Districts for Improving Student Performance on Statewide Assessments

~ Middle grades students statewide are excelling in Biology 1 ~

Tallahassee, Fla., June 12, 2015 - Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart today highlighted Northeast Florida school districts' student performance improvement over last year on statewide assessments for Civics, U.S. History, Biology 1 and grades 5 and 8 Science. Overall, the percentage of students earning a passing score has increased for all four subject areas since each assessment was first administered. Performance on the U.S. History end-of-course assessment has increased 10 percentage points since its inception and performance on the Biology 1 end-of-course assessment has increased 6 percentage points since its inception.

"I am incredibly proud of the students who worked hard all year to gain the knowledge they need to thrive succeed, as well as the teachers whose commitment to educating our state's students is evident through these results," said Commissioner Stewart.

• Baker County students increased the percentage of students passing the Biology end-of-course assessment by 10 percentage points, outperforming the statewide Biology results. In Grade 5 and 8 science, Baker County students increased the percentage of students passing by 1 and 7 percentage points respectively, outperforming the statewide results.
• Bradford County middle grades students increased the percentage of students passing the Civics end-of-course assessment by 17 percentage points, outperforming the statewide Civics results. In Biology, Bradford County students increased the percentage of students passing by 3 percentage points, outperforming the statewide results.
• Clay County middle grades students increased the percentage of students passing the Civics end-of-course assessment by 4 percentage points, consistent with the statewide Civics results.
• Columbia County grade 8 students increased the percentage of students passing the science assessment by 4 percentage points, outperforming the statewide science results. In U.S. History, Columbia County students increased the percentage of students passing by 2 percentage points, outperforming the statewide results.
• Duval County middle grades students increased the percentage of students passing the Civics end-of-course assessment by 6 percentage points, outperforming the statewide Civics results.
• Hamilton County middle grades students increased the percentage of students passing the Civics end-of-course assessment by 14 percentage points, outperforming the statewide Civics results. In grade 8 science, Hamilton County students increased the percentage of students passing by 4 percentage points, outperforming the statewide results.
• Lafayette County increased the percentage of students passing for 4 of the 5 assessments released today. Lafayette County students increased the percentage of students passing the grade 5 and 8 science assessments and the Biology and U.S. History end-of-course assessment by 8, 3, 2, and 5 percentage points respectively, outperforming the statewide results for these assessments.
• Nassau County middle grades students increased the percentage of students passing the Civics end-of-course assessment by 2 percentage points. In grade 5 science, Nassau County students increased the percentage of students passing by 1 percentage point, outperforming the statewide results.
• St. Johns County increased the percentage of students passing for 4 of the 5 assessments released today. St Johns County students increased the percentage of students passing the grade 5 and 8 science assessment and the U.S. History and Civics end-of-course assessments by 2 percentage points. St Johns' increases outperformed the statewide results in Grade 5 and 8 science as well as U.S. History.
• Suwannee County increased the percentage of students passing for 4 of the 5 assessments released today. Suwannee County students increased the percentage of students passing the grade 5 and 8 science assessments and the U.S. History end-of-course assessment by 1, 6, and 8 percentage points respectively, outperforming the statewide results. In Civics, Suwannee County students increased the percentage of students passing by 3 percentage points.

Across the state, middle grades students who took the high school level Biology 1 end-of-course assessment made significant achievements:

• Middle grades students performed at high levels on the Biology 1 end-of-course assessment with 90 percent of students passing.
• African-American middle grades students have made significant increases since 2012 on the Biology 1 end-of-course assessment, increasing their percent passing by 10 percentage points from 75 percent in 2012 to 85 percent in 2015.
• From 2012 to 2015, the number of African-American middle grades students participating in the Biology 1 end-of-course assessment increased 314 percent (from 261 students in 2012 to 1,080 students in 2015).
• From 2012 to 2015 the number of African-American and Hispanic middle grades students participating in the Biology 1 end-of-course assessment increased by 260 percent (from 1,165 in 2012 to 4,196 in 2015).

Each of the end-of-course assessments have been administered on computer since their inception, with Civics since 2014; U.S. History since 2013; and Biology 1 since 2012. The statewide science assessment in grades 5 and 8 continues to be administered on paper.

Compared to last year, the percentage of students who passed Civics increased by 4 points and U.S. History remained steady. The percentage of students who passed grades 5 and 8 Science dropped by 1 point and the percentage of students who passed Biology 1 dipped 3 points.

Commissioner Pam Stewart added, "I am encouraged by the statewide improvement students achieved in Civics. I have already begun working with Department staff members to determine how we can best support our state's educators and parents who work closely to help prepare their students, including raising awareness about the existing educator and family resources, as well as the development of new materials to help ensure students learn the standard."

The Florida Department of Education currently offers a wide variety of tools and resources that teachers and students can use to help students master the standards. Florida's new student tutorial and resources site includes 1,600 lesson plans on these subject areas, as well as tutorials, presentations and other resources to help students and their families gauge their understanding of the standards on which they will be tested. To learn more about this valuable resource, visit http://www.cpalms.org/.

The 2015 statewide assessment results for Civics, U.S. History, Biology 1 and grades 5 and 8 Science are available at http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment/results/2015.stml.

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