FCAT Math Scores Showing Steady Progress

By Michael Curtis
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   FCAT scoring encompasses numerous groupings, including subject, grade and school, as well as an examination of improvement.  Of course, additional demographic issues and population trends should be considered in conjunction with the final published school letter grades (due out in July) to determine the overall health of the local educational system. 
   Superintendent Of Schools Lou Miller and Coordinator of School Improvement Shirley Joseph provided insight into some of the numbers, as both eagerly and optimistically believe that overall improvement will be demonstrated across all schools.  Again, keep in mind that both snapshots and year-to-year comparisons flow into the elaborate scoring model used to determine overall school rankings. 
   Regarding FCAT Math grades, with few exceptions, scores throughout the district continue to show improvement.  Generally speaking, more students are now scoring at grade level and above, while fewer are scoring at the lowest level.  By the numbers, on a scale of one to five, five being best, more students are now scoring at Level 3 and above and fewer are scoring at Level 1.  In fact, compared to the base year of 2002, a time when more students were actually scoring in Level 1 than Level 3 and above, since the scoring crossed over in 2005, many pockets are improving significantly.
   The accompanying graphs illustrate the math trends for several grades.  In the end, these numbers will be included in the computation of points to determine overall school letter grades.  This comprehensive scoring model is based on the following eight components that are divided into two parts, with one bonus component for high school:
Part 1 – Proficiency

Reading Proficiency – (percentage of students scoring at) FCAT Level 3 and above
Mathematics Proficiency – FCAT Level 3 and above
Writing Proficiency – Scores of 3.5 and above
Science Proficiency – FCAT Level 3 and above

Part 2 – Annual Learning Gains

Learning Gains in Reading
Learning Gains of the lowest 25 percent in Reading
Learning Gains in Mathematics
Learning Gains in the lowest 25 percent in Mathematics

Part 3 – High School Bonus Points

High Schools may earn ten bonus points when 50 percent of all 11th and 12th grade students who retake the Grade 10 FCAT meet the graduation requirement.
   Over the summer, additional details will be forthcoming, as well as highlights of a few more shining stars.

   Staff writer Michael Curtis may be reached at michael@greenepublishing.com.

District Honors Creative Writing Winners

By Michael Curtis
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   Creative writing projects are designed to develop essential writing skills in a fun framework to make teaching and learning those skills more effective and personal.  Consequently, the Madison County School District places particular emphasis on its annual Creative Writings contest throughout the primary school system.
   “The writing faculty and teachers that were involved in this project did such a great job with the Creative Writings 2008 Contest.  Students from kindergarten through eighth grade participated in the project with the grade winners from the Pinetta, Lee and the Central School being submitted for district judging to determine division winners, which were separated as K thru second, third thru fifth, and sixth thru eighth,” Superintendent Lou Miller explained.
   The gathering at the District School Boardroom was electric and filled to capacity as winners were announced.  Gage Washington from Pinetta was the K-2nd Division Winner.  Tara Gill from Madison County Central School was the 3rd-5th Division Winner and Amber Wilson was the winner from of the 6th-8th Division.
   Following the awards and recognition ceremony, all the participants were treated to refreshments, where the smiles continued until time to go back to school.

NFCC Helps Student Build Career In Nursing

   DeShala Frazier, a resident of Madison and employee at Madison Nursing Center, began her educational journey at North Florida Community College in 2001 with one goal in mind – the goal to help people through a career in patient care.
   “I knew that I wanted to help people and the Patient Care Technician (PCT) program was highly recommended,” said Frazier.
   But Frazier didn’t stop there. After completing PCT training in 2003, she continued into NFCC’s Licensed Practical Nursing (LPN) program graduating in 2005 and now has been accepted into the NFCC Registered Nursing (RN) program and will begin classes this fall.
   Frazier is one of many students at NFCC who balance a full-time job, family and college courses in order to improve their education and enrich their communities with the knowledge they obtain. A four-year long employee at Madison Nursing Center, Frazier was recently voted Nurse of the Year. She has been married for five years and has a one-year-old daughter and two step-daughters, 7 and 12.
   With family and work obligations, Frazier is still determined to continue her education and gain additional skills to support her goal of “helping people.”
   “I have now been accepted in the Registered Nursing program at NFCC and I am very excited,” said Frazier. “The medical field comes with its challenges, but the rewards out way them all. I look forward to gaining more knowledge to provide even better care form my residents and patients that I’ll care for.”
   Frazier credits Nita Fico, Director of Allied Health Programs at NFCC, with inspiring her to further her education and praises her instructors and NFCC for providing a great place to learn.
   “I started out wanting to help people, but I received so much more,” said Frazier. “Every one of the instructors that I’ve had are very knowledgeable individuals that care about their students. NFCC provides a great learning environment.”

Helping Hands Learn & Serve Project Receives Gold Medals

By Michael Curtis
Greene Publishing, Inc.
   According to details generously provided by Monteze Walker, Coordinator of the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) at Madison County High School, contest winners Jessica Billy, Renarda Cherry and Kendra Woods presented their “Helping Hands Learn & Serve” project before the Madison County School Board during the board’s meeting of June 3.  The project earned the students gold medals in the FCCLA state competition.
   Joe Follman, Executive Director of Florida Learn & Serve, stated, “The significance of the ‘Helping Hands Learn & Serve’ project is that it supports school-based student service learning where students practice and apply skills, knowledge, and behaviors they need to learn through service to their community.”
   The goal of the “Helping Hands Learn & Serve” project was to help students make informed decisions regarding their future academic and occupational goals through activities that also help shape them into caring, informed, and active citizens of our community.  This was accomplished by students through performing creative exercises and utilizing problem-solving skills, critical-thinking skills, and logical reasoning skills through service learning.
   Twenty-six students participated in the project that generated twenty physically and mentally stimulating activities for forty elderly residents at Madison Nursing Center.  The creative activities included making gingerbread houses, dinner bibs, door hangers, posters, painted flowerpots and seasonal greeting cards. The physical activities included bingo, ball tossing, dancing, wheel chair races, and singing.
   The students recorded their activities in a portfolio that became part of their school grade, as well as part of their state competition. 
Walker noted, “The success of the ‘Helping Hands Learn & Serve’ project has helped to create an awareness of the need for service learning throughout the school district and community.  This awareness has brought about additional dedicated staff and partnerships needed to improve, expand, and sustain service learning for next year.  We anticipate more students participating next year.”
   The Helping Hands Learn & Serve project was funded by a grant for Florida Department of Education Learn & Serve.  A proposal has been submitted to expand the project for next year.