Writing results of the 2011 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) were released today by the Florida Department of Education. Essay scores for the District continue to be strong, said Joe Donzelli, a spokesman with the Lee County School board.

For school grading purposes, the state has raised the minimum passing score to 4.0 and above. The improvement in writing made by Lee County’s students at all three grade levels (4th, 8th, and 10th) outpaced gains statewide, he said.

The percentage of fourth-graders achieving a score of 4.0 or higher on the essay increased by 15 percent, jumping to 82 percent (up from 67 percent.)

That’s higher than the statewide increase for 2011 (13 percent.) The percentage of proficient eighth-graders also increased from 75 percent to 82 percent (7 percentage points) and the percentage at 10th-grade increased from 69 percent to 74 percent, increasing 5 percentage points compared to the state’s gain of 3 percentage points.

“This is tremendous news,” said Dr. Larry Tihen, interim superintendent of Schools. “This speaks volumes about the work done by our students, teachers and schools. It is something we can all be very proud of.”

The federal No Child Left Behind minimum passing score remained at 3.0 or higher. The percentage of fourth-graders achieving a score of 3.0 or higher on the essay increased two percentage points (97 percent from 95 percent.) The percentage of proficient eighth-graders also increased, moving from 96 percent to 97 percent and the percentage at 10th grade remained the same at 94 percent.

FCAT writing, administered only in grades four, eight and 10, assesses student skills in composition writing – specifically in the areas of writing focus, organization, support and conventions (grammar, spelling, etc.) Papers are scored on a scale from 1.0 to 6.0 with a score of 3.0 considered as meeting standard for the Federal No Child Left Behind legislation and 4.0 or higher for the Florida A+ Plan (School Grading).

The 2011 data released today are for all students, including special education students (ESE) and English Language Learning students (ELL.) In the official State Accountability Report (school grading) to be released in July, the Department of Education will include only those students in the standard curriculum program (it will not include ESE or ELL students.) FCAT Writing individual student reports will be released the week of May 16-20, Donzelli said.