Manatee County FCAT scores below state average

MANATEE COUNTY — Last week Manatee County School District officials acknowledged that fourth- through eighth-grade students are trailing in reading and math.

Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) results released Tuesday, June 5, showed Manatee students performed below state grade-level averages in terms of the percentage of students being considered proficient, or at or above grade level.

“These scores did not surprise anybody,” said Bob Gagnon, the district’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. “We need to make a significant change within our system, and that’s what we are doing by making the transition to the (national) Common Core (standards), updating the teaching and learning cycle, providing better support for our teachers and changing the way we use formative assessments.”

FCAT results showed in Manatee, 59% of fourth-graders were considered proficient in reading, compared to a state average of 62%. In mathematics, 54% of fourth-graders scored proficient compared to the state’s 60% average.

In fifth grade, 56% of Manatee students scored proficient in reading, and 49% scored proficient in mathematics, compared to the state averages of 61% and 57%, respectively. In science, 42% of district fifth-graders scored proficient compared to the state’s 53% average.

Students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades also underperformed compared to state averages.

Although many East County schools fell in line with district results, several schools considerably outperformed state averages.

For example, 84% of fourth-grade Willis Elementary students were rated at the proficient level in reading. Seventy-eight percent of Willis fifth-graders also tested proficient in science, compared to a state average of 51%.

In mathematics, 79% of Gene Witt’s fourth-graders tested as proficient, compared to a district average of 54% and a state average of 60%, respectively.

And in science, 58% of Nolan Middle School eighth-graders and 54% of Haile Middle School eighth-graders tested proficient compared 46% state averages, respectively.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].

Click here to view a by the numbers graphic.