Students in Miami-Dade County did as well, and in some cases better, than students across the state on this year's standardized writing test, according to statistics released Thursday by the state Department of Education.
The scores held steady for fourth- and 10th-graders, but jumped for eighth-graders.
''This is what happens when effort and commitment meet,'' said Superintendent Rudy Crew. ``We focused very keenly on the issues of reading and writing and math, and I think it's paying huge dividends.''
The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test for writing, the section of the state's testing program that has been around the longest, is considered the easiest of the exams.
Math and reading scores will be announced over the next two months, and school grades will be released in July.
On the essay portion of the test -- the part that counts toward school grades -- 82 percent of Miami-Dade fourth-graders earned passing grades, outperforming the state average of 77 percent.
Eighth-graders matched the state average, with 88 percent performing at or above the proficiency level. The scores registered a four-percentage-point improvement over last year.
High-school sophomores, who thought the exam would be a graduation requirement, had a score of 77 percent passing, a single percentage point short of the statewide average.
In Broward County, 87 percent of fourth-graders, 92 percent of eighth-graders, and 84 percent of 10th-graders passed the essay part of the test.
At some district schools, Thursday morning's release of the scores was a cause for celebration.
At George Washington Carver Middle in Coral Gables, teachers were dancing in the hallways, principal Libia Gonzalez said. Carver was one of three schools in the district to have every student pass the test.
''It's what you pray for,'' Gonzalez said. ``These kids have worked so hard.''
Students at North Beach Elementary were also among the district's top performers. Principal Alice Quarles went to each of the fourth-grade classrooms to personally congratulate the students and their teachers.
''When you're already performing at a high level, it can be hard to move up,'' said Quarles. ``But we did.''
The writing test has two parts: a timed essay and a multiple-choice section that tests students' knowledge of grammar, punctuation and organization.
The multiple-choice part of the test will be eliminated next year.
Last school year, only about 41 percent of Miami-Dade sophomores and half of sophomores in Broward passed the two-part exam.
This year, 47 percent of Miami-Dade 10th-graders and nearly 60 percent in Broward passed the combined test, compared to 53 percent statewide.
As for the essay section, students need a score of at least 3.5 on a scale of 1 to 6 to pass.
The class of 2010 -- students who are sophomores this year -- would have been the first group of students who needed to pass the writing test to graduate. But state education officials scrapped that requirement in April because of budget constraints and concerns about how the test is scored. It could be resurrected as a graduation requirement in the future.
Still, it may have been enough to spark big gains at several schools.
Essay scores at Miami Beach Senior High jumped by 16 percentage points. At the Dorothy M. Wallace Cope Center South, an alternative school for teenage parents, they improved by 14 percentage points.
Several high schools within the School Improvement Zone, Crew's intensive-care program for perennially failing schools, posted significant gains, too.
Three schools -- Miami Edison Senior High, Miami Jackson Senior High and Miami Northwestern Senior High -- saw the number of students performing at or above proficiency jump 11 percentage points.
Jackson principal Deborah Love was pleased with the school's improvement.
This year, more than a quarter of the sophomore class attended a pair of Saturday writing camps, Love said. Students also attended a number of mini-sessions with writing tutors.
''The most important thing is that we made gains over last year,'' Love said. ``We're thrilled. We're trying to do better every year.''
Gisela Feild, the district's assessment director, said the results were promising.
''We hope this will set the trend for the reading scores when we get them in the next couple of weeks,'' she said.
FCAT essay scores improve
