By Regan McCarthy
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-968498.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Generally across the board, a student re-taking the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is more likely to fail the second time around than pass. Regan McCarthy reports the state department of education released the test's retake scores.
74-percent of 12th graders retaking the FCAT scored a level one, or failing rate, on the test's reading portion. Results in the mathematics portion are slightly better with 63-percent of 12th graders failing. Department of Education spokesman Tom Butler says the students who re-take the test, about 70-thousand for the reading portion and 30-thousand for the math section, represent small slice of the state's entire student population.
"I think every kid definitely has the potential to pass the test and when you get down to this low number of children what you're talking about is individual circumstances."
Butler says in math, the number of re-takers passing is down slightly this year, but that the total number of students needing to re-take the test has also decreased. Reading numbers stayed relatively flat.