Island schools shine on FCAT, Lely improves

MARCO ISLAND — Put down your pencils; Collier County School District, FCAT writing results are in.

Collier County School District’s 2009 FCAT writing results for fourth, eighth and 10th grades were released Thursday by the Florida Department of Education, and for the most part, Marco students yielded positive results.

Though School District averages on the high school level still fall behind the state, the writing results have improved from 2008 to 2009.

The School District average was 80 percent and the state average this year was 85 percent, both up 8 percentage points from 2008.

Lely High School improved 2 percent from 2008. The results are still behind the county and state averages at 66 percent and well below the school’s 2007 average of 81 percent.

Lely High School Principal Ken Fairbanks has attributed the decline in average results to an increase in non-native English speakers who are given one year to be tested by the same standards as native English speakers and writers.

Tommie Barfield Elementary and Marco Island Charter Middle School students continued to shine with TBE results averaging 94 percent for the second consecutive year and the Charter School average results up from 94 percent in 2008 to 98 percent this year.

Both on-Island schools are above the district and state averages for fourth- and eighth-graders’ FCAT writing results. Middle school students statewide averaged 90 percent; District-wide eighth-grade students averaged 89 percent.

Elementary school state averages are 85 percent this year, while District averages for fourth grade FCAT writing skills was 80 percent this year.