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My DD8, 4th grade had to take our state standardized writing test today. The topic, pick your favorite type of weather and explain why. She chose spring and explained that there are baby birds, flowers, and she enjoys swimming. I'm thinking this is going to be a huge stretch for staying on topic as "spring" is not really a weather, but rather a season. Needless to say once she realized this too, now she is stressing. It is going to be a long couple of months waiting for the test results. I'm really at a loss as to how much to encourage her that all is well, when I must admit I'm concerned too. Any words of wisdom to keep us calmed down for the next 8 to 10 weeks?

All is well no matter how the score turns out. For one thing she's probably learned a good lesson about reading the question more carefully. Better to learn this in 4th grade than on the SAT. How does she feel about the areas other than "the writing is focused on the topic?" Depending on who's doing the grading she may lose points but she doesn't have any control over that. Chalk it up to a lesson learned and tell her this isn't a big thing to stress over. Kids get enough pressure from schools on the state assessment and you can help her put it into the proper perspective.
http://fcat.fldoe.org/pdf/rubrcw04.pdf

Inky, Thanks so much for the quick reply. I truly feel so sorry for her. I think the writing skills she used were more than adequate to get a 5 or even a 6, but the topic just wasn't there. She never even mentioned the word weather in the paper nor talked about spring breezes, warm weather, spring rains,etc. I think it truly was a case of bad nerves and am hoping the grader can see the structure in the writing. This year the state changed a passing score from a 3 to 4. I know in the big scheme of things it doesn't really matter, but I would have liked to see her stay on topic so the grade could actually just reflect her writing skills.

I think if Florida had weather that was more consistent throughout the course of a day this wouldn't be such a hard topic! The first time my son saw this topic, he did almost the same thing. Hopefully, the readers will cut her some slack. We'll keep our fingers crossed for her.

Ditto Inky. Also, It's a good chance to point out that accidents happen. The more Wildly Innacurate you are, the more it proves you're trying harder to learn something new. Well, it was just a little mistake on a pretty big test. It's better to try your best and make silly mistakes, as long as you care about doing a good job.

If I understand it correctly gr 4 is not one of the "killer" years in terms of how much the score counts. At my school (also in Fl) it seems that it is years 3,5 and 10 that really count in terms of students be allowed to continue to the next grade and having to retake and all. There are retakes in all grades, if it came to that, but I would doubt that this will be the case with your daughter.

I know a lot of people are really stressed about the increase in passing grade, but since they increased it so dramatically I would think they would have to take that into consideration when doing the grading. Oh, wait a minute, we are talking about a state dept. of ed aren't we?....

How much pressure does your daughter's school put on FCAT performance?

Thanks everyone for the reassurance. I think it caused me a great deal of stress too. I just still can't believe it. You really hate for something like this to happen when it is a one shot deal pretty much. Next writing test is not until 8th grade. I'm sure they keep a close eye on scores of DD as she is the only grade skip they ever did. She did fabulous last year though on FCAT reading and math and I'm sure will do great in the math and reading piece this year. The situation looks quite a bit brighter today though once I've had a bit more time to process it. Now it is just the long waiting game.

Yippee! Scores are in, much earlier than usual. Even with the increase in profiency from a 3 to a 4 this year. She still showed proficiency. The testing gods were smiling at us today.

that's great news. My 4th grade DS had to do FCAT for the first time this year, we just moved to FL. I loved the structured writing he learned and how they taught them to implement it on the FCAT Writes, I know it was "teaching for the test" but it was his weak area so it was great!!

How does it all work? DId you get the results in school? I have no idea what to expect and I would love to know how he did.

so, you think the schools look at the individual scores or just need good school scores for funding and "A" grading? like I said, I am new here and don't know how it works. I probably gave DS too much of a "no big deal" attitude toward FCAT because we didn't have it in the state we moved from. I've just always heard people grumble about.

Each school distributes the tests scores a bit different. If you have a program your school uses called Virtual Counselor, you can obtain the scores out there probably Thursday or Friday. Some teachers tell the kids directly what they scored. A written report doesn't usually go out until after all the scores are in (reading and math) which is usually at the end of the school year. Of course, you can always ask the teacher directly as they do have the scores today. All writing scores were released today across the state.

On the Fldoe.org website, you can gather some great statistics on how your individual school performed compared to other schools. What percentage of kids showed proficiency, etc.

The schools do look at individual scores, but think they really focus more on reading and math to determine class placement. Writing will not be given again until 8th grade, whereas the reading and math are given every year through middle school. The bottom line for the school though is really the A grade for school funding. :-(