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Highlands Today

FCAT Summer Retakes Axed

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By MARC VALERO

Highlands Today

Published: November 28, 2008

SEBRING - State budget cuts put an end to summer FCAT retakes, reducing the opportunities for struggling high school students to pass the state assessment test.

Sophomores who don't earn passing reading and/or math Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores will have four, instead of five, retake opportunities prior to their classes graduation.

The FCAT retakes in June have been eliminated leaving two annual FCAT testing periods - the standard testing in March, which also serves as a retake date and retake testing in October.

Previously students could retake the test in June between their junior and senior years, District Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Becky Fleck said.

"Once you've completed high school, even if you didn't meet the graduation requirements and you got a certificate of completion, you can continue to come back and take the FCAT," Fleck said. "Once you pass it, you receive your diploma."

School principals, registrars and guidance counselors have been informed of the changes and they will inform teachers who will get the word out to students, she said.

Seniors can still graduate by receiving a score comparable to the FCAT passing score on the ACT or SAT.

In other changes, FCAT Writing for grades four, eight and 10 will consist of an essay portion only; the multiple-choice items have been removed from the tests.
Student test scores will no longer be posted on The FCAT Parent Network. The final posted scores were from the October 2008 retakes.

With the network, parents had the opportunity to see their child's scores immediately upon their release, Fleck said.

The Florida Department of Education stressed the importance of the individual student paper reports, which will be the only source of information available to parents.

Another state-level budget cut will likely bring cheers from students - the elimination of the FCAT Norm Referenced Test (NRT), which is administered in March at the same time as the Sunshine State Standards or standard portion of the FCAT.

The NRT reading and math, which is based on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, was used to asses student achievement on a national level.

FCAT writing will be administered Feb. 10-12.

The reading, math and science FCAT will be administered March 10-19.

Marc Valero can be reached at 863-386-5826 or mvalero@highlandstoday.com

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