3rd Grade FCAT Changes
What Can a Parent Do
Florida Today published an article on December 19th about the impact of the new rules on students taking the 3rd grade FCAT titled "Proposed FCAT Standards will have a profound impact on schools". While this is true, we believe the proposed FCAT standards will have a profound impact on students taking the 3rd Grade FCAT and their parents.
This article is for parents of students taking the 3rd grade FCAT this year or next who want to make the difference.
The headlines read that the percent of students that may be retained will increase from 16 to 18%. When you get down to the details, this article highlights the fact that the percent achieving at grade level performance will decrease from 72% to 57%. That means the percent retained or needing remediation will increase from 28% to 43%
Percent Retained or
Needing Remediation
With new scoring 43%
Old Scoring 28%
Increase 15%
At 3D Learner, we strongly favor higher standards, but believe it is quite unfair to fail students first, and later try to address the issues.
The challenge we have seen is that remediation or retention results in repetition, repetition and more repetition
For most of the students we see, repetition does not work. These students tend to learn differently and often have tracking, attention and/or anxiety issues, that schools do not address. We strongly recommend you consider outside options that capitalize on your child's strengths, identify and address their challenges and engage them in the learning process
3D Learner Program (R)
We teach the way our students learn
3D Learner was born when a school official told our daughter she was not college material. "I developed the 3D Learner Program (R) to help my daughter", says Mira Halpert M.Ed., "and I became ...
A mom on a mission!!!
and Julie improved her reading comprehension 4.2 grade levels in 7 months and never had to worry about an FCAT or FCAT like test ever again"
The challenge for a parent is that the new rules are set to take effect immediately. That means many more students are at-risk for failing the all important 3rd Grade FCAT and 10th Grade FCAT. What can parents do?
At 3D Learner, we have been helping students since the FCAT started 10 years ago, Many of the 3rd graders who were at-risk for failing the 3rd Grade FCAT achieved a 3 or a 4 on the 3rd Grade FCAT -- meaning that they improved to grade level or above grade level.
For 10th graders, we have helped students to pass both the 10th Grade Reading FCAT and the 10th Grade Math FCAT.
Most smart students who struggle with the FCAT are visual-experiential learners, who learn best when they see and experience information. We call these students right-brained learners. Right-brained learners think from whole to part, they need to be taught differently, and they can often do very well on the FCAT, with the right training.
62% of the students today are right-brained learners.
Right-brained learners who struggle with the FCAT often have 3, 4 or 5 of the following challenges
1- They learn differently. They often have problems with:
- Sight word vocabulary - words like but, what, except and but, recognizing words they have previously "learned", and with tricky tests, like the FCAT
2- Difficulty paying attention for long periods of time. Some may have ADHD, but most smart struggling students just have difficulty paying attention to that which is boring or frustrating -- the FCAT is boring and the FCAT experience is frustrating
3- Test Anxiety -- right-brained learners tense up when someone says, "pass the FCAT or else".
4- Processing speed -- most right-brained learners process the whole picture versus the words -- this takes longer. On timed tests like the FCAT, the combination of test anxiety and/or processing speed challenges causes major challenges
5- Skipping words and lines when reading -- sometimes called tracking issues
What 3D Learner does that is far different than most is:
- We assess for learning differences, attention, anxiety, processing speed and tracking issues
- We teach the way a right-brained learner learns. We have a philosophy -- Right-Brained Programs for Right-Brained Students
- We address the attention, test anxiety, processing speed and tracking issues, where appropriate
Call us at 561-361-7495 and see if
Our Right-Brained Program is Right for Your Right-Brained Learner
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