Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test

Adrian H. Cline, Superintendent

February 26, 2002

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is a high stakes test mandated by the State of Florida. The primary purpose of the FCAT is to assess student achievement of the high-order cognitive skills represented in the Sunshine State Standards (SSS) in Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. The SSS portion of FCAT is a criterion-referenced test. A secondary purpose is to compare the performance of Florida students to the performance of students across the nation using a norm-referenced test. All students in Grades 3-10 take the FCAT in the spring of each year.

Results are provided for schools, districts, and the state. Scores are not reported for any group (school or grade) with fewer than 10 students. Summary data for schools are reported for the 67 county school systems in Florida, the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (district number 68), and the university laboratory schools.

FCAT Reading and Mathematics SSS - Reports of results to students, schools, and school districts include several types of scores. Mean scores are reported on a scale of 100-500. In addition, Grades 4 Reading, 5 Mathematics, and Grades 8 & 10 Reading and Mathematics scores are reported in terms of five achievement levels (1-low to 5-high).

The score reports distributed to schools also contain the number of points a student earned in different content categories for both Reading and Mathematics. Mathematics content area scores are reported for five areas, 1-Number Sense and Operations; 2- Measurement; 3-Geometry and Spatial Sense; 4-Algebraic Thinking; 5-Data Analysis and Probability. Beginning in 2001, Reading content scores are reported for four areas, 1-Words and Phrases in Context; 2-Main Ideas, Plot, and Purpose; 3-Comparisons and Cause/Effect; 4-Reference and Research. In 1998, 1999, and 2000, Reading content scores were reported for the type of passage read (literary or informational). The student report also contains a comparison to other Florida students by indicating into which third of the state score range the student's scores fell.

Three types of questions are included on the SSS part of FCAT: multiple-choice questions, gridded-response questions (mathematics grades 5-10 only), and performance tasks (Grades 4, 5, 8, and 10 only). Multiple-choice and gridded-response questions can be machine scored. Two trained readers score each answer to a performance task holistically.

The following are the test dates for these tests:

· Elementary Students: March 11-14, 2002.

· Middle School Students: March 11-12, 2002

· High School Students: March 4-5, 2002

FCAT Writing - Students in Grades 4, 8, and 10 write an essay for an assigned topic (prompt). This type of writing assessment is called "demand writing." Students in Grade 4 write either an expository or a narrative essay. Students in Grades 8 and 10 write either an expository or a persuasive essay. Two trained readers score each student essay holistically. The highest score a student can receive is 6 points. Mean scores for each prompt and the combined score for a grade level are found on this web site.

Elementary, middle, and high school students were administered the FCAT Writing test on February 12, 2002.

FCAT Reading and Mathematics NRT - All students in Grades 3-10 take the Norm-Referenced Test (NRT) section of the FCAT and receive scale scores that range from 424-863 across all grades. In addition, National Percentile Ranks (NPR), Stanines, and content sub scores are reported. The NRT section of the FCAT contains only multiple-choice questions. Content scores are included on the student school, and summary reports provided to school districts.

The following are the test dates for these tests:

· Elementary Students: March 18, 2002

· Middle School Students: March 13, 2002

· High School Students: March 6, 2002

If you have any questions regarding the FCAT, do not hesitate to contact your child’s school.

The Office of Adrian H. Cline, Superintendent of Schools, is open from 7:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Monday – Friday. Please visit the district web site at: www.desotoschools.com.

Information for this column was provided by the Florida Department of Education.