BIG NEWS!
We would like to congratulate our 8th grade students and teachers on their FCAT writing results.
Middle schools make gains (Florida Today)
BY MEGAN DOWNS
and KATE BRENNAN
Nine of 23 public middle schools in Brevard County improved essay score averages on the FCAT Writing Plus exam, according to results released Wednesday.
Statewide 86 percent of eighth-graders scored 3.5 or above, up from 83 percent last year. In Brevard, 85 percent of eighth-graders scored a 3.5 or above, down from 86 percent last year.
Other eighth-grade results:
- Eight middle schools had 90 percent or more of eighth-graders score a 3.5 or higher on the essay portion of the test. They are Cocoa Beach, DeLaura, Jefferson, Odyssey, Palm Bay Academy, River's Edge, Stone and West Shore.
- Ninety-nine percent of eighth-graders at West Shore, the top-performing high school, scored a 3.5 or higher on the essay, the highest of any grade districtwide. On the combined essay and multiple-choice test, 85 percent of West Shore eighth-graders scored a 3, nearly double the state average of 45 percent and the district average of 49 percent.
- Palm Bay Academy earned the highest district average eighth-grade essay score of 4.7, the same score it received last year.
"We're on top of the world, said Sandra Marines, Palm Bay Academy's lead writing teacher. "Kids put a lot of effort into it."
- Einstein Montessori was the only middle school to fall short of the state's benchmark of 3.5 on the essay, but it serves dyslexic students who struggle with reading and writing.