Commissioner Pam Stewart

If the state education commissioner’s recommended “cut scores” get the green light, more than half of students in Florida public schools likely would pass the majority of language arts and math exams.

Based on 2015 assessment data, Commissioner Pam Stewart proposal would mean the Florida Standards Assessment passing rates would be above 50 percent for all but two of the exams.

The commissioner’s plan comes on the heels of the Florida Board of Education last week pushing for stricter passing standards, while superintendents statewide opposed the board’s stringent request.

The proposed scores mostly fit in with the recommendations made by a coalition of teachers and community leaders.

“We want students to get the skills they need to be competitive in the global economy,” Stewart said. These recommendations are in line with the performance we should expect from our state’s students at each grade level for each subject in order to prepare today’s students for future success.”

Accountability has been at the forefront of school reform in Florida, and standardized tests have been used to set benchmarks and measure student achievement.

The Studer Institute has devised 16 metrics to measure the economic, educational and social well-being in the Pensacola metro area. Improving education has emerged as a top priority in enhancing the community’s quality of life.

The state now is using the FSA, an offshoot in its second year of the Common Core national standards. It is working to determine new proficiency levels, and test results for last year are still under review at the state level.

Based on Stewart’s plan, a little more than half of students would earn a level 3 or higher on math and language arts exams with the exception of eighth-grade math and algebra 2.

Stewart proposed some math cut scores to be lower than those set by a panel of experts. Her plan would cut the reactor panel’s recommendation for a Level 5 in seventh and eight grade math by 3 points and increase the score needed to earn a Level 4.

While the commissioner’s scoring plan would make the FSA harder than the previous Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FACT, it’s not as stringent as the state board preferred. Several board members want to make scoring for the FSA even tougher to keep it in line with that of the state’s performance on the National Assessment for Educational Progress.

The argument is that if Florida wants to competitive with other states economically and educationally, the students must be held to the same standards measured by national assessments.

On the NAEP, fewer than 40 percent of Florida’s students scored “proficient” on the reading and math exams.

On the same exam, 31 percent of the state’s eighth-graders reached proficiency in math in 2013. The commissioner’s recommendation would score the FSA so that 45 percent passed, based on performance in 2015.

The state board will vote on the commissioner’s recommendations in January. The results will be used to assign school grades.

FSA includes language arts exams for grades three to 10, math exams for grades three to eight and then for student taking high school algebra 1, algebra 2 and geometry.

Below is a detailed breakdown of today’s recommendations:

 Percent of Students at Each Achievement Level: English Language Arts

Percent of Students at Each Achievement Level: Mathematics

Percent of Students at Each Achievement Level: End-of-Course (EOC) Assessments