3rd-graders see reading gains, lag state average

In Palm Beach County, about 2 in every 10 thirdgraders didn’t pass test.

Palm Beach County’s third-graders bucked a statewide dip in scores on Florida’s reading exam this spring, with the number reading on grade level or above jumping 2 percentage points over last year.

But with 56 percent hitting a score of 3 or better on a scale of 5, the rate still fell short of the state’s average of 57 percent and remained behind scores posted in neighboring Broward and MiamiDade counties, according to data released Thursday by the state’s Department of Education.

The results also reveal about two of every 10 of the county’s 15,314 third-graders didn’t pass, scoring at a level 1 and will have to prove themselves to be promoted to fourth grade.

The exam, known as the Florida

Standards Assessment of English Language Arts or the FSA for ELA, is a gatekeeper to fourth grade.

For the second year in a row, the results for more than 220,000 Florida students have been posted while school is still in session to give districts time to make decisions about promoting students and directing others to summer camps for remediation.

While passing the exam is the primary route to fourth grade, the state allows schools to promote students with alternate proof the student has the necessary language skills.

A portfolio of a student’s work

or scores from other tests, including computer-based classroom diagnostics such as iReady, can be used as evidence that a child is profi- cient enough to move on.

While the state’s average fell from 58 percent scoring 3 or better in 2017 to 57 percent this spring, the average remains above the 53 per- cent passing rate clocked in 2015 when the test debuted.

While Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade students gained ground, third-graders in the other four large urban district mirrored the state in reporting slight drops.

Palm Beach County school leaders have long acknowl- edged shortcomings in third grade reading, and improv- ing those scores has been a benchmark of the district’s goals since the 2016 adop- tion of its Strategic Plan. That plan aims to bring the percent of those reading on grade level or above to 75 percent by 2021.

So far, the district’s Chief Academic Officer Keith Oswald says, the progress is in step with that goal. The scores have inched up from 51 percent in 2015 to 52 percent in 2016, 54 percent in 2017 and now 56 percent in 2018.

Also of note, when it came to landing a score of 3 or better, black and Hispanic students made gains while also chipping away at the percentages in the bottom fifth. Students who don’t speak English as their first language, those who meet federal definitions of poverty and those with a learning disability also saw growth. Meanwhile, white students

declines — albeit smaller than the gains made by their counterparts.

“We are very pleased to see we did show increases. We’re one of the three large urban districts to show an increase, and we’ve closed the gap with the state from 4 percent to 1 percent,” Oswald said Friday. “We’re proud of all our principals and teach- ers and the work they’ve done.”

Oswald noted that the district recently launched a plan to further drill down on liter- acy from preschool through second grade so that third grade teachers are less likely to have to play catch-up.

That is key, considering the results indicate Palm Beach County students scoring in that bottom level didn’t significantly budge this year. Two large urban districts saw decreases in that portion, and four districts and the state saw increases.

Some highlights in Palm Beach County:

■ Two elementary schools saw more than 90 percent of their students score level 3 or above: Morikami Ele- mentary in Delray Beach and Marsh Pointe Elementary in Palm Beach Gardens, with a 95 percent and 93 percent pass rate, respectively.

■ Not one of 127 students at Morikami scored in the bottom fifth.

■ Pine Grove Elementary in Delray Beach saw a 23 percentage point increase in the number of students scoring 3 or better while dropping by 16 percentage points the number in Level 1. Ten other schools also saw double-digit increases in those reading on grade level and beyond with significant drops in Level 1.

■ 13 elementary schools logged an 80 percent scor- ing 3 or better.

■ Binks Elementary in Wellington had the largest percent of students score in the highest level, with 28 percent earning a 5.

■ 10 elementaries, predominantly schools with significant poverty, saw 25 percent or fewer of their students reading on level or above. The bottom four: Village Academy in Delray Beach, K.E. Cunningham/ Canal Point Elementary, Lincoln Elementary in Riviera Beach and Lantana Elementary, with pass rates of 14 percent, 18 percent, 19 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, white students saw declines — albeit smaller than the gains made by their counterparts.