FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

 

S

  

TATE BOARD OF EDUCATION

 

F. PHILIP HANDY,

Chairman

T. WILLARD FAIR,

Vice Chairman

 

Members

DONNA G. CALLAWAY

ROBERTO MARTÍNEZ

PHOEBE RAULERSON

KATHLEEN SHANAHAN

LINDA K. TAYLOR

 

John L. Winn

Commissioner of Education

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTACT PERSONS

 

NAME:

Samantha Love

 

  

Victoria Ash

 

PHONE:

(850) 245-0426

  

  

(850)

245-0513

 

  

SUNCOM:

205-0426

  

  

205-0513

 

 

EMAIL:

Samantha.Love@fldoe.org

 

  

  

Victoria.Ash@fldoe.org

K-12:

  

2006-58

 

M E M O R A N D U M

 

TO:

District Superintendents

 

FROM:

Cheri Yecke, Ph.D.

 

Chancellor, K-12 Public Schools

 

 

Hanna Skandera

 

Deputy Commissioner,

 

Accountability, Research, and Measurement

 

DATE:

April 24, 2006

 

  

SUBJECT:

 

ALTERNATIVE

ASSESSMENT

OPTIONS FOR MEETING THE GRADE

10

FCAT

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

 

School districts were notified via K-12 Memo #2005-56, dated May 18, 2005, regarding the continued

opportunity for students to use concordant scores on alternative assessments (ACT and SAT) to meet the

graduation requirement in lieu of earning a passing score on the Grade 10 Florida Comprehensive

Assessment Test (FCAT).

Section 1008.301, Florida Statutes (FCAT equivalency; concordance study), authorizes the State

Board of Education to conduct a concordance study to determine if crosswalk scores can be

determined to be equivalent to those required on the FCAT. In cases in which such equivalencies

can be determined, the State Board is authorized to adopt those scores as meeting the graduation

assessment requirement in lieu of the FCAT passing score.

 

325 W. GAINES STREET •SUITE 514• TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0509 • www.fldoe.org

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April 24, 2006

District School Superintendents

Page Two

 

Each time the score is changed, new equivalencies must be determined. This provision shall take

effect for students who are eligible to graduate in the 2005-2006 school year.

To meet this requirement, the Department of Education conducted concordance studies to determine the

score relationship between the FCAT and several national tests in 2003. This study involved matching

scores for over 70,000 students who had taken both the FCAT and the SAT and over 47,000 students

who had taken both the FCAT and the ACT. The correlations between the FCAT and the other tests were

found to be positive and within the range of correlation between the SAT and the ACT. Although not

perfectly aligned, the alignment documents for the SAT and ACT indicate that these tests cover a

majority of the Sunshine State Standards content assessed by the FCAT. Therefore, based on the 2003

concordance study, the State Board of Education adopted the concordance scores as meeting the

assessment requirement in lieu of the FCAT passing scores for high school graduation.

In March 2005, the College Board implemented several changes to the SAT. These changes require the

Department to conduct another concordance study to determine if crosswalk scores can be determined to

be equivalent to the new assessments. This study will require that a sufficient number of students have

taken both the FCAT and the new assessment to support positive correlation.

Please note that the current concordance scores adopted by the State Board in May 2005, shown in the

table below, are valid until the Department’s subsequent study can be completed. Therefore, twelfth

grade students scheduled to graduate in the 2005-2006 school year who have attained the ACT or SAT

scores concordant with the FCAT passing scores shown below shall satisfy the assessment requirement

for a standard high school diploma as provided by Florida law [sections 1003.43(5)(a) (General

requirements for high school graduation.--) and 1003.429(6)(a) (Accelerated high school graduation

options.--), Florida Statutes]. Also, note that pursuant to

section 1008.22(9)(b), Florida Statutes

(Student assessment program for public schools), a student is required to take the Grade 10

FCAT a total of three times without earning a passing score in order to use the scores on an

alternative assessment. This requirement shall not apply to a student who transfers into a

Florida public school in the twelfth grade.

 

 

 

 

Concordant Scores for 2005-2006

Reading

 

Math

 

FCAT 300

FCAT 300

SAT 410

SAT 370

ACT 15

ACT 15

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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April 24, 2006

District School Superintendents

Page Three

 

School districts are responsible for identifying students who are eligible to use concordant scores on

the SAT or ACT to satisfy the assessment requirement for graduation. Districts must document that

students using this option have met all other graduation requirements pursuant to Sections 1003.43 and

1003.429, Florida Statutes, and provide a process for documenting the concordant SAT and ACT

scores. Students who meet all graduation requirements except passing the FCAT, and use the SAT or

ACT to meet that requirement, must be reported in Survey 5 using one of the following Withdrawal

Codes:

 

•

 

WFT – Any student who graduated from school with a standard diploma and satisfied the graduation

test requirement through an alternate assessment

•

 

WFA – Any student who graduated from school with a standard diploma based on an 18-credit

college preparatory graduation option and satisfied the graduation test requirement through an

alternate assessment

•

  

WFB – Any student who graduated from school with a standard diploma based on an 18-credit career

preparatory graduation option and satisfied the graduation test requirement through an alternate

assessment

 

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Samantha Love in K-12 Student

Achievement at Samantha.Love@fldoe.org, or Victoria Ash in Assessment and School Performance at

Victoria.Ash@fldoe.org.

 

CY:slva

cc: Assistant Superintendents for Instruction

High School Principals

Guidance Supervisors

Student Services Directors