The Kitchen Sink Special Edition 1/14/13

What is FCAT?

The acronym FCAT stands for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. All public school students are required to take this statewide assessment program. The purpose is to determine a student’s proficiency in meeting grade level standards in Reading and Math.  Third grade students take FCAT Reading & Math.

When is FCAT?

     FCAT administration varies according to grade level. The 3^rd grade schedule is:

Monday, April 15^th:  Reading Session 1

Tuesday, April 16^th:  Reading Session 2

Wednesday, April 17^th:  Math Session 1

Thursday, April 18^th:  Math Session 2

April 19 – April 26^th  :  Make-Up Testing

Daily Administration

FCAT will be administered to students by their homeroom teachers. Students will be given a morning snack and encouraged to use the restroom before testing begins, between 9:15 – 9:20 am. At that point, there will be NO movement in the building. Therefore, if a student is tardy, they must sit in the front office until all testing is complete. Students who are tardy will have to participate in make-up testing, which is not ideal. Generally, students perform best when the assessment is administered by their teacher in their classroom.   

What Happens If My Child is Sick During FCAT?

Make-up times and days are built into the testing schedule for students who are sick. Make-ups, though not ideal, offer a better opportunity for students than taking a test while they are sick. Make-ups are done in the afternoons on testing days and in the days that follow the FCAT.  

Reading FCAT

The FCAT Reading is administered in two days with a 70-minute session each day. There will be a total of 7 passages. Each passage has between 100-700 words with the average being 500 words per passage. 60% of the text will be literary and the other 40% will be informational texts. Students will answer multiple choice questions on each passage. In all, there are approximately 50-55 questions on FCAT Reading. 

Unanswered questions will be marked wrong.

Questions are broken down into the following categories:

·         Vocabulary: 15-25%;

·         Reading Application: 25-35%; 

·         Literary Analysis: 25-35%;

·         Informational Text & Research Process: 15-25%.  

Mathematics

The FCAT Math is administered in two days with a 70- minute session each day. There will be about 50-55 questions. Forty-four of the questions will count toward your child’s FCAT Math Performance score. The other questions will be field tested questions, which will be used and counted on future FCAT tests.  Unanswered questions will be marked wrong. 

There are three categories of questions on FCAT Math:

·                       ·         Operations, Problems, and Statistics: 50%;

                         ·         Geometry & Measurement: 20%;

                         ·         Fractions: 30%. 

How is FCAT Scored?

Students will receive a scale score between 140-260, which will be a baseline score. As your child takes the FCAT in later grades, you will be able to compare their scale score across grade levels. They will also receive a content area score, which provides the actual number of raw score points earned out of the number of points possible for each reporting category. Students will receive an achievement level, too, ranging from Level 1 to Level 5. To be considered on grade level, students must achieve Level 3 or higher.  To promote to 4^th grade, students must earn both passing grades on their report cards and a Level 2 or better in Reading.  If report card grades are passing, but a student earns a Level 1 in FCAT Reading, they will not be promoted to 4^th grade.

Third grade scores generally come in by the end of the year. Score reports will be put in your child’s last report card, if available.