Welcome to “Get Fit for FCAT” Night Sponsored by SAC

FCAT Basics for Parents Created By: Brooke Whalen, Reading Coach Barrington Middle School

What is the FCAT? The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is part of Florida’s overall plan to increase student achievement by implementing higher standards.

What does that mean?? Reading Math Given every year to see if students can comprehend and analyze information that they have just read from fiction, non-fiction ( including historical documents), poems, maps, brochures and graphics. Given every year to see if students can solve and explain math problems that are given numerically or as word problems. Students must grid answers. Science Writing Given to 8th grade students to see if they recall information from grades 6-8 in order to explain, grid and answer questions. Given to 8th graders to see if they can respond to a written prompt using a 4 paragraph framework with proper spelling and grammar.

What’s the importance of FCAT? It shows if our students are meeting grade level benchmarks and expectations. FCAT levels in reading and math determine course placement for the following year for all core subjects. If a student scores a level 1 in math or a level 1 or 2 in reading they will receive additional remediation through intensive level courses.

What scores do students need to earn? FCAT is measured in levels For math, science and reading students can score a level 1 (lowest) up to a level 5 (highest) For writing the highest score is a level 6 Students must score a 3 to be considered “on grade level” and “passing” (with the exception of the writing test where students need to score a 4)

Cognitive Complexity of FCAT ?’s Grade Low Complexity Moderate Complexity High Complexity 6-7 15%-25% 50%-70% 8 10-20% 20-30%

Low Complexity Items Require students to recall, observe, question, or represent basic facts. Students are expected to demonstrate simple skills or abilities. Items require basic understanding of text, often verbatim recall from text or simple understanding of a word or phrase.

Moderate Complexity Require two steps: comprehension and subsequent processing of text. Students are expected to make inferences within the text and may encounter items that include words such as summarize, infer, classify, gather, organize, compare, and display. Depending on the objective of a particular item, students may also be required to explain, describe, or interpret.

High Complexity Items make heavy demands on student thinking. Students may be asked to explain, generalize, or make multiple connections. High complexity items must require several steps involving abstract reasoning and planning. Students must be able to support their thinking. Items may involve identifying the theme and implicit main idea and making complex inferences within or across texts. Students may also be asked to take information from at least one portion of the text and apply the information to a new task. They may be asked to perform complex analyses of the connections among texts.

FCAT Explorer is a great way to help your student prepare! www.fcatexplorer.com Username: last name + first initial Password: 29+first 4 letters of last name+birth month+day

FCAT Explorer “Reading Factory” is the 6th grade program. It consists of 27 FCAT-like passages and 250 questions in a mixture of multiple choice, short response, extended response and open response formats. Vocabulary lessons and animated games reinforce newly learned words. The program adjusts to your student’s reading level and provides answer clues and feedback on correct and incorrect answers.

Dr. Binder’s Reading Factory (grade 6 practice)

Reading Boardwalk (8th grade) With 60 reading passages and 694 FCAT-like practice questions, Reading Boardwalk offers comprehensive FCAT practice on the reading benchmarks for the 8th grade. Reading Boardwalk is adaptive, changing the amount of support students receive based upon their performance within the program. In addition, the program includes vocabulary building activities, passage-based incorrect feedback, and main idea practice.

Reading Boardwalk

Colorful, interactive format provides over 139 problems to test the skills presented on the 8th grade math test. Students get instructional feedback for each selected answer and clues and/or explanations if help is needed. “My Challenge List” helps students practice problems answered incorrectly.

Math Navigator (8th grade)

With 190 practice questions and remedial lessons, Science Voyager provides comprehensive practice for the skills tested on the 8th grade science FCAT. The program is organized into three areas: Physical & Chemical, Earth & Space, and Life & Environment. In addition, Nature of Science practice questions are embedded in each area of the program. Science Voyager instructional support includes answer-specific feedback, benchmark mini- lessons, and science vocabulary activities

Science Voyager (8th grade)

Additional Resources to Help Prepare Your Student Additional information, sample passages, and released tests can be found at: http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcatrelease.asp

FCAT Links to Assist You and Your Student   FCAT information for parents and students http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcatpub3.asp This Web page includes an FCAT fact sheet, sample and released FCAT tests, and frequently asked questions about the FCAT. Released and Sample Test Items http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcatsmpl.asp This Web page has sample test questions with answer keys and correlation to benchmarks. These questions come from sets no longer in use on the FCAT. Check this page frequently as new materials are released throughout the year. Resources http://www.justreadflorida.com This page offers many resources for families working to encourage reading and strengthen skills. Information includes reading lists for middle school students, activities for families and parents, and links to other resources. www.fcatexplorer.com This page offers practice in math, science and reading to better prepare students for the FCAT test. Sign-in name: last name + first initial, password: 29+first four letters of last name + 2 digit birth month + 2 digit birth date http://library.flvs.net The FLVS library is a collection of links and sites that have been reviewed for educational value, currency, and accuracy. This site also has a listing of educational game sites. www.fcrr.org This is the site for the Florida Center for Reading Research. The “Student Center Activities” link offers a large array of student handouts and games to help reinforce the standards they are learning in school. Although it is geared at the elementary age group, many of the resources in the grade 4-5 listing are appropriate for middle grades students.

Did you know…. Studies have shown that students who watched fewer than 3 hours of TV a day scored higher on standardized tests than those who watched more. Instead of turning on the TV, play a game that requires your student to read spaces, cards or directions. Word building games like Scrabble, Boggle, and Upwords are great!! Or make up your own game - challenge your student to find words with prefixes and suffixes in the news or textbook articles. See who can make the biggest list of words! Don’t forget to talk about the word meanings!

Read with your kids! A study of the out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.  Encourage your student to read with questions in mind. Begin with who, what, when, where, why, and how. Ask your student to summarize what was read using those key details. It’s also great to have your student “buddy read” with a sibling or grandparent. Take turns reading and discussing an article or fictional story.

What is your goal for your child? The educational careers of 25 to 40 percent of American children are imperiled because they don't read well enough, quickly enough, or easily enough.  Help your student set reading goals for the school year and long term goals for life. Ask your student what FAIR test goals they set.

Connect with your student… Ask him/her what the class learning targets for the day were. Did they read any interesting articles or stories? Did they learn a new FCAT strategy? Did they create a word web, map, graph, or project?

Thanks for joining us tonight! Proud to be a Barrington Bolt!