The county performed better than the state average at all grade levels and in all subjects except fifth-grade math, which is the only area where the district's scores dropped. The release of Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores in reading, writing and math on Tuesday gave educators a test of their own that involved deciphering data, comparing 2000 and 2001 numbers and trying to predict how the results might translate into the state's A through F school accountability grades. Those aren't expected to be released for three weeks. As always, educators complained that the scores compare one group of students from this year to another group from last year, rather than tracking the progress of students from year to year. To get a D, a school must fail to meet state standards in either writing, reading or math.
Teachers are very competitive by nature.
No one liked to have the D grade. Carlyn Hallin's school, Lealman Avenue Elementary, has been a D two years in a row. This year, her students posted a leap in reading and a small gain in writing, meeting state standards in both. But math could still sink the school where she is principal. I think the important thing is for the teachers to have some freedom to feel like they don't have to think about that test every day, every minute.