State of Florida data

Is the Florida Education Dashboard real?

Florida's sparkling public education record

Florida parents know their kids are in good schools. In 1999 Florida started increasing the number of A and B schools rapidly. There are now 4 times as many A and B schools as in 1999, and only one-fourth as many D and F schools.

In a recent press release Florida's Department of Education announced "Three of every four Florida schools were considered high performing in 2006."

Governor Jeb Bush added, "These results are further confirmation that reform, based on high standards and expectations, clear measurement and accountability and rewards and consequences for results, is working... Thanks to the leadership of dedicated education professionals, Florida's students are achieving significant progress."

Source data (this is the chart on second page of this file)

 

Now parents have re-analyzed these 7 years of data

When the Seminole School Board created widespread parent alienation school performance data were downloaded and re-examined. Seminole students declined dramatically in reading level between 3rd and 10th grade. The schools' improvement record turned out to be flat at middle school and high school levels. Parents then wondered if Seminole's educational issues are just local, or part of a wider pattern.

Let's take a quick walkthrough of the data. It's easy to "mine" and re-report Florida's past 7 years of data independently. That's what the Florida Education Dashboard does and it doesn't report any A or B school districts. In fact, they're at what parents consider D and F levels.

So what does the data say?

1. Go to Florida's FCAT website:
http://firn.edu/doe/sas/fcat/fcinfopg.htm

Click to go to the data source on the FCAT website:
   
2. For State and District 2006 FCAT scores, download the 2006 Third Grade Reading scores (Excel file).

Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:

   
3. Confirm that 75% of Florida third graders read at grade level or above -- Achievement Level 3 is "on grade level", so AL 3+ means 32% of tenth graders read on grade level or above. Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:
  (Note: Yellow highlighting was added to simplify reading.)
   
4. For State and District 2006 FCAT scores, download the 2006 Tenth Grade Reading scores (Excel file).
 Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:
   

5. Confirm that 32% of Florida tenth graders read at grade level or above -- Achievement Level 3 is "on grade level", so AL 3+ means 32% of tenth graders read on grade level or above.

This confirms the Dashboard:

  • In the Dashboard's left column click "Florida State"
  • In the top right quadrant:
    • 75% of 3rd graders read on grade level
    • 32% of 10th graders read on grade level
    • There is an apparentdrop-off of 43% of students falling below grade level in reading, between 3rd grade and 10th grade
    • The average apparent decline for each year of a Florida education is 6.1% of students falling below grade level in reading.

These data are repeated for every school district in Florida:

  • The best school district has 35% of students apparently fall below grade level in reading.
  • In Seminole County it's a 43% drop-off.

Parents might consider asking whether a Seminole County education adds or subtracts value from our children.

Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:

(Note: Yellow highlighting was added to simplify reading.)
   
6. Now State and District 2006 FCAT scores, download the 2006 Eighth Grade Reading scores (Excel file)

Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:
   

7. Confirm that 46% of Florida eighth graders read at grade level or above -- Achievement Level 3 is "on grade level", so AL 3+ means 32% of tenth graders read on grade level or above.

(Note: The actual file on Florida's FCAT website says "2005" in the header, but the data is different from the 2005 data, so this appears to be the 2006 data with an incorrect header.)

Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:

(Note: Yellow highlighting was added to simplify reading.)
   

8. Start determining the amount of improvement from 1999 (over the past 7 years): Scroll to the bottom of the page. Under 1999, download "State and District Scores for All Curriculum Groups."

Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:
   

9. Confirm that in 1999, 30% of Florida tenth graders read at grade level or above -- Achievement Level 3 is "on grade level", so AL 3+ means 30% of tenth graders read on grade level or above.

(To determine this, add up the % of tenth grade students at AL 3, AL 4 and AL5 in 1999.)

Compare this to the 2006 data above:

  • In 1999: 30% of tenth grade students read on grade level or above
  • In 2006: 32% of tenth grade students read on grade level or above
  • In 7 years of school improvement: Just 2% more 10th grade students read on grade level or above.

Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:

(Note: Yellow highlighting was added to simplify reading.)
   

10. Confirm that in 1999, 44% of Florida eighth graders read at grade level or above -- Achievement Level 3 is "on grade level", so AL 3+ means 30% of tenth graders read on grade level or above.

(To determine this, add up the % of eighth grade students at AL 3, AL 4 and AL5 in 1999.)

Compare this to the 2006 data above:

  • In 1999: 44% of eighth grade students read on grade level or above
  • In 2006: 46% of eighth grade students read on grade level or above
  • In 7 years of school improvement: Just 2% more eighth grade students read on grade level or above.

This confirms the Dashboard:

  • In the Dashboard's left column click "Florida State"
  • In the bottom left quadrant:
    • There is just 2% improvement for eighth grade reading on grade level, after Florida's billions of dollars spent on education and its improvement
    • There is just 2% improvement for tenth grade reading on grade level, after Florida's billions of dollars spent on education and its improvement

 

Click to enlarge / Use Back button to return:

(Note: Yellow highlighting was added to simplify reading.)
   
11. Use these 7 years of student improvement data we can project how long it will it take before Florida has 80% of its students reading at grade level or above:
  • Eighth graders:
    • It will take 81 years, in 2087, before 80% of Florida's 8th graders read at grade level or above.
  • Tenth graders:
    • It will take 154 years, in 2160, before 80% of Florida's 10th graders read at grade level or above.

These data parallel the multi-generation wait in Seminole County:

  • 42 years for eighth graders
  • 112 years for tenth graders

Parents might consider asking whether the Seminole County School Board knows how to improve student performance at middle school and high school levels.

 

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