Florida Students Join Writing Elite

The St. Petersburg Times ^ | July 11, 2003 | STEPHEN HEGARTY

[windchime]

A decade after Florida began focusing on writing skills, the state's fourth-graders are among the nation's best young writers.

Florida had the fifth-highest percentage of fourth-graders writing proficiently, according to results of the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress. The state's eighth-graders ranked 11th.

Florida showed some of the biggest increases over time, and some of the biggest gains among minority students.

The scores, released Thursday, were touted by Education Commissioner Jim Horne as evidence that Florida's school reforms are working, and that the focus on writing skills is paying dividends.

Still, only a third of Florida's students are proficient writers. Proficiency is defined as solid academic performance appropriate for the grade level.

That means two-thirds are not proficient writers. Nevertheless, Florida is not accustomed to being ranked among the elite states, and that did not go unnoticed.

"The Florida results are quite impressive actually," said Peggy Carr, associate commissioner for the NAEP. "We have not seen gains like this from Florida before."

Carr said it's hard to put a finger on the cause of the gains, but surmised that the introduction of the statewide writing test a decade ago is showing results.

"The states that have shown the biggest gains are the ones who have been behind, and now they've been working on it," Carr said.

Horne had the same theory.

"These are the best scores that we've ever received on the NAEP," Horne said, attributing the improvement to the fact that "we've been at writing a little bit longer than reading and math."

Florida began its writing test - called Florida Writes - 10 years ago. It was incorporated into the statewide Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which also covers reading and math skills, in 1998.

The state's first writing scores were pretty dismal. School writing programs were not geared to the kind of writing-on-demand required for the test. For instance, on the state's grading scale of 1 to 6, fourth-graders averaged a 2.0 in 1993 and improved to a 3.6 in 2003.

"Writing has been a big focus for us," said Deanna Texel, supervisor for elementary reading and language arts programs in Pinellas County schools. Pinellas has consistently had some of the highest reading scores in the state for the past decade.

NAEP scores show progress over time and provide data for valid comparisons among states - two measures that often yield different results. For instance, the most recent NAEP reading scores showed Florida making tremendous improvement. Yet Florida's reading scores were still at or near the bottom third among states.

Not so with the writing scores.

Florida's fourth-graders are bunched in the same group with states like Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, which tend to excel in several academic areas.

Perhaps most telling is the improvement in eighth grade. The percentage of eighth-graders writing proficiently was 19 percent in 1998, well below the national average. In 2002, the percentage jumped to 32 percent, above the national average.

[windchime]

Great news actually being reported in the SPTimes!

[Support Free Republic]

The former President disembarks from his airplane after a trip back to Arkansas. Although the hoopla is less now that he is out of office, Clinton still occasionally finds himself greeted by military personnel. This is one such occasion.

He climbs down the stairs, carrying two huge pigs, one under each arm. He gets to the bottom, and nods his head in return to the soldier's salute. "Son, what do you think about these?" he says. "Nice pigs, SIR!" comes the reply. Clinton gets mildly miffed and lectures, "I'll have you know these aren't just pigs but the finest of Arkansas Razorbacks. Top notch. I got one for Hillary, and one for Chelsea. What do you think about that?"

"Nice trade, SIR!

Free Republic

Your donations keep us laughing at liberals

[windchime]

FYI

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Great news actually being reported in the SPTimes!

That is HUGH! Lol!

Seriously, Jeb's courageous stand on education continues to pay off. It's inspirational.

Thanks for the post, windchime.

[windchime]

"Seriously, Jeb's courageous stand on education continues to pay off. It's inspirational."


You're welcome!

"Carr said it's hard to put a finger on the cause of the gains, but surmised that the introduction of the statewide writing test a decade ago is showing results."

I noticed that they couldn't bring themselves to mention Governor JEB BUSH's education reform and that the marked increase in skill has occurred during his administration.

[windchime]

Did you see this?

[JulieRNR21]

Thanks for the ping......nice to see FL students improving in basic skills.

I recently wrote a letter (7/6) to the editor of Sarasota liberal rag about the impressive improvements in reading scores....of course, I'm still bugging them to print it.