Collier schools show notable improvement in reading FCATs

The staff at Golden Gate Middle still boasts about the school’s FCAT scores.

The school jumped from a ‘C’ school to an ‘A’ school, and made significant gains in all sections of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test this year.

The school also saw gains among Hispanic students, the school’s largest minority group.

And Golden Gate Middle School wasn’t alone.

Hispanic students across Collier County performed so well in the reading portion of the FCATs, the district was named one of the state’s top 10 school districts closing the achievement gap.

“This says we’re on the right track,” said Cynthia Janssen, the district’s chief academic officer. “Why we’re proud of this is (that) we are building a strong foundation for students.”

The top 10 districts were identified by comparing the percentages of the districts’ Hispanic students who are reading at or above grade level on the FCATs compared to the percentage of white students from 2004 to 2005.

“Our kids did very, very well,” Golden Gate Middle School Principal Mary Murray said. “The group we did find the most gain in was the Hispanic students.”

About 57 percent of the Golden Gate Middle population is Hispanic, Murray said. And with an overall minority population of about 82 percent, Murray said teachers couldn’t focus on making gains just among minority students.

“With our building, we didn’t tailor (the curriculum) to the minority. What we did was focus on moving our gains forward,” Murray said.

Janssen said she credits the ranking to the teachers and staff at the district’s schools.

“I want to commend our teachers. They have been committed to having monthly and sometimes weekly meetings to talk about progress,” she said.

The state also ranked school districts according to how well they closed the achievement gap among Hispanics in math, as well as how well they closed the achievement gap among African Americans in reading and math.

Charlotte County was among the top 10 schools recognized for closing the achievement gap for Hispanic students in math.