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. :-(

Dorothy, Do you know if there are any 2nd grade tests that are done in FL? (I know about the 3rd grade FCATS)

Kate, Our county administered a SAT-10 (Stanford Achievement Test)which had a reading and math component. They also adminstered the Naglieri, which was a test for gifted as our gifted programs start in 3rd grade. This year they replaced the Naglieri with the Cogat.

cool. just found some site with lots of charts and info. our school did 100% "4 or above" for writing. would be interested to see how DS did.

where in FL are you? PM me

Ditto on the where in FL are you guys? I am in Orlando, but I am not currently part of the public school system. DS5 is in private kindergarten, and DS4 in preK. They will be staying there next year for 1st grade/kindy, but my son may go to the local public school for their gifted pullout. We haven't decided yet.

Wow, how many of us here are in FL? We're over on the Space Coast.

Gosh, I didn't realize there were so many Floridians either. I'm in South Florida.

south west florida

We're in North central Fl.

Orlando too!

so i think eventually we should organize ourselves and have a Disney Meet-up

AntsyPants,


Sea World might be a better bet...

yeah, i have a bad habit of referring to any theme park in Orlando as "Disney" lol

But i was thinking Seaworld or Harry Potter at Universal. One of DS's classmates went to HP during the Superbowl and said it was empty How about Epcot? I have't been there in almost 20 years!

Any of those sound like they would be fun outings. If you haven't been to EPCOT in 20 years, you are probably in for a shock at what they have done as far as turning some of the pavilions into giant corporate advertisements, but there is still a lot of good stuff to see and do. We haven't been to HP at Universal yet. We're actually going to be over at Sea World in early June for my son to take a class. If we didn't have such a broad age range here, I'd suggest setting up a similar field trip for this group.

I agree with Sea World being a better bet, at least for financial reasons for us.

If we organize as a group it is cheaper too. I took a group of students there last year and the backstage tour we went on was great. I don't know if that would be an option, and I don't know if there is a minimum age either.

My DC are 3 and 8 and absolutely love Sea World (not to mention that their parents do too!)

DD-will-be-8 and her 7yo cousin will be at WDW the first week in June, but neither Seaworld nor Universal are on the schedule.

we got our Busch Gardens passes (Tampa) and had a lot of fun there yesterday. Lots to do there! It's just over an hour drive for us, not too bad.

Still no FCAT scores though

No FCAT scores yet. Ugh! I feel for you. I was just on pins and needles for my DD. Both my DS & DD got their scores the day they came out. Does your school use an online source where you can check all standardized testing for your individual child?

We haven't been to any of the theme parks in such a long time. We do make frequent trips up though for the Disney water parks. I may hold out until Legoland opens in the fall.

still no FCAT scores. hmmmm.

Yes, Dorothy -- I can't wait for Legoland!! My kids will be 6, 5, and 3 in the fall when it opens. Perfect ages!

My principal was told last week that FCAT scores were expected to be in before the end of school, which for us is June-9th; a little hope that we won't have wait till summer

SO GLAD we are homeschooling and not having to deal with the nail-biting over this. Of course, DS is taking the SAT Jun 4th, so we'll have scores to nail-bite over anyway...

Best wishes for timely FCAT scores!

i don't think it's a nailbiting situation, i don't know if the FCATS means anything (besides getting the school graded) but I am curious and always want to Know NOW lol If it was the SAT I would be nailbiting for sure!

If I understand what I heard at a meeting this week correctly, they have all of the tests graded by this point, but are figuring out the grade bands (in other words, how many points do you have to get to get a 1,2,3, etc.)
I know the grades for the kids who had to retake for graduation requirements have come out, but they get done first so schools and students know if they are actually graduating or not.

I agree with you, AntsyPants, it isn't nail-biting, but curiosity gets the best of me all the time.

Another FL mom here...East coast. We get out on the 9th, too. My 8th grader found out from her English teacher about her writing score a couple of weeks ago. I just checked the fldoe web site & the rest of the scores are not posted there yet. My son is in the 3rd grade so I would expect to hear about his scores sooner rather than later. I am not worried about the results, mind you, but I definitely want to see how my kids fared "on the day". Kind of like the rest of you.

Oh, and count me in on the Legoland meet-up. My son has a free ticket that he is saving.

My teacher friend posted on FB this morning that FCAT results are going to be out to them tomorrow.(it's sad how much the teachers stress as well). It's usually another week before the parent reports make it to the schools, though.

I'm not even sure why I'm nervous. I know that my kid could pass it with her eyes closed, but then again, this years test was supposed to be extra tricky with 3-4 reading comp answers which sound correct instead of only 2; not a good idea for giftes who can reason wrong answers till they look correct. ~Sigh

Just picked up DS8 - FCAT results were scribbled on a piece of paper in an envelope. Looks like the schools have results today and his teacher wanted to let us know what they are.

Hope it went well, aly!

It did Susandj - very well
Let's just say he'll be getting an extra big treat!!

Fabulous! Congratulations, and give him a high five from the board.

DD8 also got hers back today. The school made a big deal about the fact that all of gr 3 in her gt magnet passed both math and reading - they got prizes and extra play time - DD was thrilled! She of course, had no idea that it was such a big deal, to her it was just a couple more tests she had to take.
She did great on them. I am interested to see her number scores - does anyone know if we actually get those? (Rather than just what grade 1-5 they got)

Kerry,
I believe that we will be getting a more complete report but am not sure when to expect this.
Aly

I know that teachers see actual score scores in addition to just 1-5 scale because my husband was always looking at each student to see if they got a solid 3 or if that student was closer to the cut off for either a higher or lower level. He could tell from the report he got if the student was one question away or many questions away.

Claire,
I know teachers get to see them (it took me about the first semester of the year to figure out what all the numbers meant when they gave them to me at my school ) , but this is the first year DD is at a school that does standardized tests, so I wasn't sure if parents get this break down too. After asking around, I found out that we will get them, but not for a while.