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ZONE, STELLAR SCHOOLS SET PACE FOR STRONG IMPROVEMENT MIAMI – The 20 elementary schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ (M-DCPS) School Improvement Zone and 11 elementary schools receiving extra help through the STELLAR initiative raised the reading and math performance of their 3rd graders dramatically this year, helping push countywide results significantly higher, according to preliminary results released Tuesday. In both Zone and STELLAR schools, the percentages of 3rd graders scoring at the lowest level on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in both reading and math dropped by about 10 percentage points over 2004 (see handouts). “This is what the percentages translate to – one fewer 3rd grader out of every 10 in the Zone and in STELLAR schools who is failing academically,” said Superintendent Rudolph F. “Rudy” Crew. “That’s a remarkable achievement by our students, teachers, principals and parents in less than a year of focused effort.” Boosted by the jump in performance in the Zone and STELLAR schools, Miami-Dade’s countywide percentages for students scoring above FCAT Level 1 climbed by 4 percentage points in reading and 6 percentage points in math. The reading results are particularly important for 3rd graders, who need to score above FCAT Level 1 to be promoted into 4th grade or receive a waiver of that requirement from teachers and the principal of their school. In all, 1,814 fewer 3rd graders are at risk of having to repeat that grade because of the better FCAT results. M-DCPS and the Zone and STELLAR schools also saw a rise in the percentages of students performing well enough on FCAT to be deemed proficient in reading and math by the state’s standards. Districtwide, the percentage of proficient students in reading rose to 61 percent from 57 percent a year ago. In math, the percentage climbed to 63 percent from 56 percent last year. The improvement in Zone schools closely paralleled the countywide results – a rise to 38 percent from 35 percent proficient in reading and to 43 percent from 35 percent in math. The STELLAR schools saw a 12 percentage point jump in the percentage of 3rd graders deemed proficient in math – from 40 percent to 52 percent – and a 7 percentage point improvement in reading – from 39 percent to 46 percent. Florida Education Commissioner John L. Winn noted that the focus through the Zone and STELLAR on schools most in need of intensive support seems to be paying off for M-DCPS. “Superintendent Crew has put a great deal on the line to help the most struggling students in Miami-Dade County,” the commissioner said. “As a full partner in that endeavor, I couldn’t be more pleased to see this progress.’’ In September, the School Board approved designating 39 schools with chronically poor academic results for the Zone, placing them under the oversight of a Deputy Superintendent and redesigning the educational program in them by extending the amount of time for instruction, increasing planning and training time for teachers, and standardizing their literacy instruction. Some of the changes required negotiation with United Teachers of Dade, which meant that the entire Zone program went into effect on Jan. 18, about six week before the FCAT was administered. The percentage of Zone 3rd graders scoring at the lowest level in reading on the FCAT dropped by 10 percentage points, to 41 percent in 2005 from 51 percent the year before. Zone schools saw similar improvements in math results, with the percentage of students scoring at the lowest level falling to 33 percent from 42 percent in 2004. Schools Targeting Excellence in Literacy, Learning, and Reading, or STELLAR, targets leadership, instruction and professional development using the Continuous Improvement Model to increase literacy and overall academic achievement in participating schools. Those schools were picked because they have lifted themselves out of low performance, but their capacity needs to be increased to sustain that improvement. The School Board approved the STELLAR plan in December. The STELLAR schools saw more 3rd graders score above FCAT Level 1 – 8 percentage points more in reading and 10 points more in math. “The STELLAR schools are demonstrating that their improved results can be sustained. That is vital if we are to meet our goal of eliminating all low-performing schools in Miami-Dade County,” Dr. Crew said. M-DCPS was able to compile preliminary results because its testing was not delayed by damage from last year’s historic number of hurricanes. The Florida Department of Education is expected to release official 3rd-grade FCAT results for the state and M-DCPS next week, with results for other grades coming later this month. This summer, the state will release accountability grades for schools; those grades are based on FCAT performance for many, but not all, of the students covered by these results. ### 05-JLG/168 |
