MIAMI-DADE STUDENT FSA SCORES ON PAR WITH STATE  AVERAGES FOR MATH, ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

Today, six months after the administration of the new Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics, the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) released state, district, school, and student results. Despite the administration difficulties, questionable findings of a state-commissioned validity study, and a rush to release findings in an attempt to authenticate the results for use in the accountability system, scores are much as expected with most clustered around a statewide mean T-Score of “50.”

The scores released today for the FSA assessments are reported using percentile ranks and T-Scores (standard scores that can range from 20 – 80) in the first year of administration. FSA Scale Scores and achievement levels will be set later this year. The achievement levels will be used to report scores and inform student progression decisions and graduation requirements starting with the 2015-2016 school year.
Highlights of the M-DCPS students’ results are:

• M-DCPS students scored on par with their counterparts statewide in both English Language Arts and Mathematics. The districtwide mean T-Scores of 50 in ELA and Mathematics across all grades were equal to those of students statewide.
  
  
• In Mathematics, M-DCPS students in grades 3 and 4 outscored students statewide, receiving mean T-Scores of 51, as compared to the statewide mean of 50.
  
  
• Across all grade levels, M-DCPS students scored slightly lower than students statewide on the three new FSA End-of-Course assessments in Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2.

In Spring 2015, the state of Florida transitioned from standards-based assessments which addressed the Next Generation Sunshine Standards (NGSSS) in Reading and Mathematics to the new FSA assessments which target the new Florida Standards in ELA and Mathematics.  As required by House Bill 7069, the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) contracted for an external validity study to examine the Spring 2015 administration of these new assessments which was to be completed by September 1, 2015, and prior to the release of student results.  Earlier, only pass/fail statuses for Grade 3 and Grade 10 ELA, and Algebra 1 students were provided to schools to facilitate promotion decisions and retake opportunities; these results were based on percentile rankings in relationship to the prior year’s FCAT/NGSSS results. 

“The interpretive value of these results, considering the troubled administration of the FSA and its questionable validity, represents at best baseline information to be used in future performance comparisons and determinations,” said Superintendent of Schools Alberto M. Carvalho. "Conclusions beyond that would probably be inadequate based on the availability of current test data.”    

Complete District, State, and school summary reports will be made available on the FLDOE website. School shipments of Individual Student Reports will be forwarded to schools as soon as they are received. 

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 15-DGD/064/JS

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