Students in grades 4, 8, 10 being tested today

A 45-minute writing test for grades four, eight and 10 today kicks off this year's Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

The remainder of the FCAT testing for the other grades will be held March 9 - 19.

Grades 3-10 will be tested on reading and mathematics. Grades 5, 8 and 11 will take the FCAT Science.

Grades 11 - adult (new students/retakes) will be tested on reading and mathematics.

Students who will take the writing FCAT have been practicing in part by writing to a prompt.

Cracker Trail Elementary Assistant Principal Page Green said the school's fourth-graders have been practicing their writing weekly. A writing coach has been working daily with the students.

Lake Placid Middle Principal Derrel Bryan said his students are ready for the test.

"We've been working hard all semester and the first semester," he said. "This is really a big deal for our eighth-graders and we put a lot of time and effort schoolwide to prepare. So I think we are ready to go."

Fourth-graders will get either an expository or narrative writing prompt while eighth- and 10th-graders will get either an expository or persuasive prompt.

Expository writing requires students to explain something; narrative writing asks students to describe something; and persuasive writing requires students to present an argument.

There is no passing score for writing, but scores are part of the calculation for school grades. The test is scored on scale of 1-6.

New this year, as a cost cutting measure, a student's test will be read by only one scorer. Previously, each test was read by two people so if one gave it 3 and the other gave it 4, the student would get a 3.5 score on the assessment.

According to the Florida Department of Eduction, a certain amount of tests will be scored by two people as a quality control measure.

Previously 3.5 was considered on grade level with the percentage of students at 3.5 or above counting toward the school's grade. But since a 3.5 score will not be possible with one scorer, the new grading formula will average the percentage of students at 3 and above and at 4 and above.

Anytime the FDOE changes the criteria for grading, it always has some kind of an impact, Bryan said.

"But, we know that going in and so our kids are familiar with that; they know the standards are stepped up a little higher now."

Score results will be released to students in late April, according to the FDOE.

At the present time, FCAT Writing is not used to determine eligibility for a high school diploma, although it had been designated as a requirement for the graduating class of 2010.

This requirement has been delayed to allow further development of a comprehensive test of writing, according to the FDOE.

The department intends to field test a revised comprehensive writing assessment in 2011-12 and begin reporting results on this test in 2012-13.

FCAT Writing make-up tests will be administered Wednesday and Thursday.