INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The 10th-graders in Indian River County were better in reading, writing and arithmetic than their classmates statewide and county students were competitive in a broad range of categories in figures released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Education.
“Overall we’ve done well looking at the averages,” said Superintendent Harry La Cava. “We will continue to drill down deeper to determine strategies for improvement for the upcoming year.” The delivery of the test results was delayed because of technology problems associated with a new vendor brought in to manage the testing. The results Tuesday were for grades 4-10 reading and mathematics, grades 5, 8 and 11 science and grades 4, 8, and 10 writing.
Statewide the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test taken by sophomores this year showed in mathematics 84 percent of the nearly 180,000 students tested received passing marks, while in reading the figure was 60 percent.
For the county’s three main highs schools — Vero Beach High School, Sebastian River High School and Indian River Charter High School — 85 percent of the students in math and 65 percent in reading received passing marks. High School students must pass the reading and math portions of the FCATs in order to graduate.
In mathematics 90 percent of the 154 students at Indian River Charter High School received a mark that showed they were proficient (level three or higher in the five-tiered scoring format), while 79 percent of the 452 students at Sebastian River and 74 percent of the 606 Vero Beach High School students were at level 3 or above.In reading proficiency, 56 percent of Indian River Charter students were at level 3 or above, while 43 percent of Sebastian River and 42 percent of Vero Beach students scored above level 3.In the writing tests taken by 10th graders, the statewide mark for proficiency was 94 percent and was at 96 percent in Indian River County. Indian River Charter School saw 99 percent of its students ranked proficient, 96 percent at Vero Beach High School and 95 percent at Sebastian River.
At the local elementary and middle school level, students scored generally higher than statewide averages or were within a few percentage points. Mathematics was one area where some students struggled to meet state averages as grades 5, 6, and 7 came in one or two percentage points lower.
Among elementary schools in the county Dodgertown made improvements at every grade level in all areas tested. At the middle school level, Gifford met or exceeded State averages for students scoring in all tested grade levels, while Sebastian Charter Junior High met or exceeded state averages in all areas except for eighth grade mathematics and writing. Storm Grove, the school that opened its doors for the first time this year, met or exceeded state averages in grades 6 and 7 reading and grade 8 science and writing. While the FCAT results were positive statewide, Florida Education Commissioner Dr. Eric J. Smith noted a “plateau” was reached at the elementary level.”Although our middle and high schools showed strong academic progress this year, our elementary grade levels remained relatively flat,” said Smith. “Reasons for this will vary locally but I am confident that through careful analysis of the data and a redoubling of our efforts at both the state and district level, we will be able to move past this plateau and spark new levels of success in our early grades and beyond.”The state’s new testing contractor, NCS Pearson, needed extra time to ensure individual student’s results matched with demographic information. The problems are said to be separate from the scoring process, and analyses by the Department, Pearson, and an independent testing expert, The Buros Institute, all confirm the results are both accurate and reliable, the department noted.Individual student score reports are expected to be mailed to districts for receipt by July 8.To view school, district and state FCAT reports, visit http://fcat.fldoe.org/mediapacket/2010/.
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Grade 11 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level Science
Statewide Avg.
38
Indian River School Dist.
39
Vero Beach High
42
Sebastian River High
37
Indian River Charter High
36
Grade 10 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level
Reading
Math
Writing
Statewide Avg.
39
73
94
Indian River School Dist.
44
77
96
Vero Beach High
42
74
96
Sebastian River High
43
79
95
Indian River Charter High
56
90
99
Grade 9 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level
Reading
Math
Statewide Avg.
48
67
Indian River School Dist.
54
71
Vero Beach High
58
71
Sebastian River High
46
71
Indian River Charter High
66
80
Grade 8 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level
Reading
Math
Writing
Science
Statewide Avg.
55
68
96
43
Indian River School Dist.
56
68
97
43
Gifford
61
69
97
45
Sebastian River
58
73
97
41
Oslo
53
65
97
38
Storm Grove
52
66
96
48
Sebastian Charter Jr. High
69
63
97
56
Grade 7 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level
Reading
Math
Statewide Avg.
68
61
Indian River School Dist.
70
60
Gifford
75
62
Sebastian River
64
68
Oslo
69
52
Storm Grove
72
59
Sebastian Charter Jr. High
75
68
Grade 6 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level
Reading
Math
Statewide Avg.
67
57
Indian River School Dist.
71
56
Gifford
73
61
Sebastian River
61
47
Oslo
74
53
Storm Grove
79
62
Sebastian Charter Jr. High
63
57
Imagine at South Vero
61
46
Grade 5 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level
Reading
Math
Science
Statewide Avg.
69
63
49
Indian River School Dist.
69
61
51
Rosewood Magnet
86
80
71
Osceola Magnet
90
91
82
Beachland
86
82
70
Fellsmere
57
60
38
Pelican Island
70
49
45
Citrus
71
58
55
Dodgertown
58
49
43
Vero Beach
62
59
39
Thompson Magnet
48
40
29
Sebastian
75
58
57
Glendale
61
47
41
Highlands
48
53
34
Liberty Magnet
84
72
70
Treasure Coast
68
52
44
St. Peter’s Academy
58
67
58
North County Charter
63
74
53
Imagine at South Vero
53
42
36
Grade 4 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level
Reading
Math
Writing
Statewide Avg.
72
74
94
Indian River School Dist.
74
74
94
Rosewood Magnet
92
89
94
Osceola Magnet
91
88
99
Beachland
81
82
98
Fellsmere
79
75
95
Pelican Island
73
71
99
Citrus
76
73
91
Dodgertown
67
54
96
Vero Beach
56
61
86
Thompson Magnet
73
78
93
Sebastian
67
74
96
Glendale
57
58
86
Highlands
69
70
89
Liberty Magnet
87
84
98
Treasure Coast
75
66
97
St. Peter’s Academy
62
69
100
North County Charter
87
96
100
Imagine at South Vero
75
80
93
Grade 3 FCAT results at a glance*
School/Level
Reading
Math
Statewide Avg.
72
78
Indian River School Dist.
74
73
Rosewood Magnet
85
90
Osceola Magnet
96
92
Beachland
84
85
Fellsmere
83
82
Pelican Island
66
66
Citrus
76
72
Dodgertown
55
52
Vero Beach
63
71
Thompson Magnet
56
66
Sebastian
80
79
Glendale
58
59
Highlands
70
60
Liberty Magnet
81
72
Treasure Coast
74
65
St. Peter’s Academy
86
91
North County Charter
83
78
Imagine at South Vero
78
78
Numbers reflect percentage of students who reached a Level 3 or higher
