Florida kids are writing better

Florida students have progressed to the middle of the national pack in writing, according to 2007 scores released this morning from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, better known as "the nation's report card."

Eighty-eight percent of Florida eighth-graders scored at the basic level or above on the writing test, which is right at the national average and 10 percentage points higher than in 1998. Only two states, Delaware and Louisiana, have made bigger gains over that period.

A nationally representative sample of 165,000 eighth- and twelfth-graders took the NAEP writing test last year, but state results were not available for twelfth graders. Many experts consider NAEP (pronounced "nape") to be the gold standard for measuring learning.

Nationally, the number of eighth graders writing at basic or above has moved from 83 percent to 87 percent since 1998. Among twelfth graders, the numbers have bounced from 78 percent in 1998 to 74 percent in 2002 to 82 percent in 2007.

On the upside: Many of the biggest gains were made by lower- and middle-tier students.

On the downside: In Florida, the scores show no significant narrowing of the achievement gaps between male and female students (males continue to score lower), or between white and minority students (blacks and Hispanics continue to score lower).

Still, Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith focused on the minority students' strong overall performance on the test as one of the highlights of the results. He noted in a news release that Florida's Hispanic students ranked second in the nation, and the state's black students ranked fourth, in the number of students scoring proficient and above.

"Our students continue to make significant academic progress at the national level and these results are the latest evidence that their hard work is truly paying off," Smith said in the release.

To see the test results in detail, click here. To read more about what the NAEP writing test measures, click here.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter (Times photo, 2003)

Comments

[Paul Barger]

There seems to be a lot of emotion surrounding “How do we teach children to write effectively?” On my blog I have a series called “The Art and Science of Teaching Writing.”
Writing is an art, yet if students can’t produce when its test time, how can we say we are doing a great job?

I’ve taught GATE kids, and I’ve taught kids in the inner, inner city. “Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay Writing” is the result of more than a decade of researching how to get elementary students to write effectively.

Effectively to me means, “Correctly, creatively, naturally, quickly, and with control and enjoyment.” The longer students practice writing the wrong way, the harder it is to bring about these results in a natural way.

That’s why “the Lang. Arts teachers spend almost the entire year coaching the kids on how to write a five paragraph paper according to the rules of FCAT.” It’s basically saying, “It’s too late to get the kids to write correctly in a natural way.” It means the kids have practiced writing incorrectly for TOO LONG.

www.patternbasedwriting.com is a complete writing program for elementary students which works so well that middle school teacher will be able to teach writing the way they are supposed to.

As a elementary school teacher, to me what is MOST IMPORTANT is the writing I see in their daily work. I want thoughtful writing that students take pride in. I also want their writing to be correctly structured.

[Raye]

To answer that question--They can't REALLY write. The Lang. Arts teachers spend almost the entire year coaching the kids on how to write a five paragraph paper according to the rules of FCAT. PERIOD. They teach nothing else until after the writing test in February. That's why they can't read, and this type of writing has absolutely NO use outside of the test.

Is it still the case that grammar, spelling, and punctuation don't count?
Are we really talking about organizing a paragraph or more, devoid of necessity to use appropriate grammar or correctly spelled words and punctuation marks?????????

How is it that they can write, but they can't read?

The scores don't add up.