Okaloosa County is proud of the progress of students in our district as reflected in FCAT scores released by the Department of Education today. Science and math have been our educational focus this year and our high FCAT scores can be attributed to that initiative. The hard work of our students and professional development of our teachers in grades 8 and 11 science have ranked us second highest in the state only to Gilchrist County which tested 363 students in science as compared to Okaloosa County’s 4,028 students tested in 8th and 11th science. In math Okaloosa County ranked #1 in Florida in seventh, eighth and ninth grade. This is especially rewarding because academic progress of middle school students is a challenge nationwide and our emphasis this year has been with the success of all middle school students. In seventh grade Okaloosa County tied with Santa Rosa County for the highest reading scores statewide and Okaloosa County ranked #1 in eighth and ninth grade reading.
Our scores in elementary math and reading are flat as was the situation across the state. This is not unusual in school districts which are very high performing such as ours. We are redoubling our efforts to correct this plateau effect in elementary schools by looking at each student’s scores individually and taking a keen look at our subgroup data in order to close the achievement gap in the areas of special education and minority groups. Elementary principals will begin meetings this summer and staff development will begin immediately in areas of elementary reading to include comprehension, vocabulary and fluency.
High schools are shifting their focus to the new grading system implemented by the state legislators last year and becoming effective in November 2010. Our high school students improved in FCAT reading and math (ninth graders ranked number one in the state in both reading and math) but school grades in high schools will not be released until this fall and will be based on numerous factors to include; graduation rate, industry certifications and CPT, AP, SAT, ACT, AICE, PERT and IB scores. It is important to note that in the future high school math FCAT will be replaced with end of course exams in Algebra and Geometry and the science FCAT will be replaced with the Biology end of course exam. These will become exit criteria for graduation.
Writing scores cannot be compared to previous year FCAT Write scores due to the state using only one prompt and changing the scoring method to using only one scorer. However, our students in fourth grade had 94% proficiency in writing, eighth grade had 98% proficiency in writing, and tenth grade had 96% proficiency in writing under the No Child Left Behind criteria.
We have posted FCAT scores to the Parent Star website which can be accessed by using your child’s pin number. Please contact your school if you have questions or need assistance in accessing your child’s scores. Student score reports will be mailed within the next ten days. We commend students, teachers, support staff, administrators and parents and realize that the continued academic success of Okaloosa County students is a result of the collaborative partnership between all stakeholders.
Congratulations on another great year in the Okaloosa County Schools. It is an honor to be your superintendent.
Alexis Tibbetts, Ed.D
