Department of Education Announces 2011 FCAT and FCAT 2.0 Results for Reading Mathematics and Science

Monday, June 6, 2011

DOE Press Office (850) 245-0413

Department of Education Announces 2011 FCAT and FCAT 2.0 Results for Reading, Mathematics and Science

~ Transition to FCAT 2.0 keeps statewide scores constant; FCAT results show improvements in science ~

TALLAHASSEE – Florida Education Commissioner Dr. Eric J. Smith today announced the 2011 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test 2.0 (FCAT 2.0) Reading results for grades 4-10, FCAT 2.0 Mathematics results for grades 4-8, FCAT Mathematics results for grade 10 and FCAT Science results for grades 5, 8 and 11. As expected, statewide results for FCAT 2.0 assessments remained essentially the same as last year due to the process used to transition to the new, more rigorous assessments. FCAT Science and the Grade 10 FCAT Mathematics were also administered this year, with results showing statewide student performance increases for all science-tested grades and a slight performance decrease at grade 10 in Mathematics. Next year, grade 11 Science and grade 10 Mathematics will be replaced with Florida End-of-Course (EOC) assessments and grades 5 and 8 Science will transition to FCAT 2.0.

“My congratulations go out to our teachers and school administrators who worked tirelessly this year to raise the achievement of our students and better prepare them for future success,” said Commissioner Smith. “Because of their efforts, the transition to more demanding assessments has been nearly seamless and I am confident that our focus on higher expectations for all children will result in significant progress in the years ahead.”

Florida’s statewide assessments are currently undergoing a transition from the FCAT to the new FCAT 2.0 and Florida EOC Assessments. These new assessments are based on Florida’s updated, more rigorous curriculum standards that were adopted by the State Board of Education several years ago.

Although the linking process holds constant the statewide results for this year, it does allow for different results at the district and school levels. It is important to note that student achievement on FCAT 2.0 this year is not being reported on a new score scale since the new scale and achievement level standards will not be established until this fall. Therefore, student scores represent performance on this new test reported on the old FCAT score scale.

Results from the FCAT Science and the Grade 10 FCAT Mathematics remain on the same score scale, allowing for statewide comparisons to be made to previous years. Highlights of these results are as follows:

• The percentage of students scoring proficient and above (Achievement Level 3 and higher) on Grade 5 FCAT Science increased two percentage points to 51 percent.
• The percentage of students scoring proficient and above (Achievement Level 3 and higher) on Grade 8 FCAT Science increased three percentage points to 46 percent.
• The percentage of students scoring proficient and above (Achievement Level 3 and higher) on Grade 11 FCAT Science increased two percentage points to 40 percent.
• The percentage of grade 10 students scoring proficient and above (Achievement Level 3 and higher) on Grade 10 FCAT Mathematics decreased by two percentage points to 71 percent.

“I’m very encouraged by the continued progress we are seeing in science, but the overall performance of our students is still far too low,” added Commissioner Smith. “Important changes have recently been made to accelerate this progress, including increased graduation requirements that include critical science courses, our next generation curriculum standards that hone in on core science concepts and our Race to the Top win that has given us additional resources to concentrate on this vital subject area.”

To view this year’s statewide assessment results and learn more about the transition to FCAT 2.0 and EOC assessments, visit http://fcat.fldoe.org/.