Sheyla Santini

EDF 4430
Critical Tasks
Summer 2023

Critical Task 5
Interpreting and Communicating About Standardized Assessments and Achievement

Critical Task Description

Teacher candidates will deliver a report to a student and parent(s)/guardian(s) explaining the
content and procedures of (a) standardized test(s) and their relevance for achievement and will
interpret student achievement from standardized test results.

Kenneth’s Letter

Dear Parents/Guardians of Kenneth,

I hope this letter finds you and your family well. As you may know Kenneth has recently
taken the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, also known as the FCAT. I am writing this
letter to provide you with a little more information on what the FCAT entails and Kenneth’s
score. As his teacher I feel it is crucial to keep you informed and active in your child's academic
development.
Above all I want to thank your student for his hard work and dedication over the school
year. It is very impressive that they have continually demonstrated a good outlook, commitment,
and true excitement for learning. I am pleased with what he has achieved so far.
When it comes to the FCAT itself I would like to take this opportunity to give you some
knowledge as to what the test entails. The FCAT is a test that the students should take annually
that is designed to measure their progress in important academic areas. It is a crucial tool for
determining how well students grasp and know fundamental subjects and it enables us to
identify areas of strength and areas that may require additional attention. The FCAT is also a
criterion-referenced assessment which means that Kenneth’s scores are measured against a
set of fixed and predetermined criteria. In other words, his results are compared with written
descriptions of the knowledge that students should have at that particular stage of their
academic journeys.
Now, allow me to point out a few noteworthy accomplishments! In the reading section
Kenneth achieved a score of 2140. In order for Kenneth to be considered on grade level he
needed to achieve a score of 1972, which he has surpassed with flying colors! His confidence
band is 2064-2216. This means that if Kenneth were to take the same test again, he would
score between a 2064 and a 2216. His score of 2140 landed him in the achievement level 3. In
order for students to be considered on grade level they must be on a level 3 which Kenneth has
achieved. This level 3 indicates that Kenneth had parietal success when it comes to the content
on the FCAT.
Compared to previous years of testing, Kenneth has not shown much improvement. In
fact, in the last year he had a slight decrease in his score. In this sixth grade Kenneth was able
to achieve a score of 1848 which puts him at an achievement level three. Then he had a slight
increase that landed him with an achievement level 4 in the seventh and eighth grade with
scores of 2010 and 2214. Going into this year, he experienced a slight decrease and scored a
2140 which placed him at a level 3 achievement which is still very much on grade level.
While Kenneth may have experienced some slight decrease in his scores, he still has a
lot to be proud of with his performance on this test. This test is broken down into four different
content areas, the first one being “words and phrases in context.” Kenneth was able to correctly
answer 6 out of 8 questions based on this content area. The state mean was also 6 out of 8
which means that he is average or on level. The second content area is “main idea, plot, and
purpose.” In this area he scored a 13 out 17. While Kenneth did score above the state mean
which was 11 out 17, he may still need extra support in this category to continue increasing his
score. The third content area is “comparisons and cause & effect.” In this content area Kenneth
was able to achieve a 8 out of 9 points which is well above the state mean of 6 out of 9. The
final category tested was “reference and research.” In this category, Kenneth scored a 10 out of
11 which is also above the state mean of 7 out of 11. Overall Kenneth showed many strengths
while taking this test and will continue to grow and develop academically with your support.
If you have any inquiries, worries, or would like to learn more about Kenneth’s growth,
don't hesitate to contact me. Your cooperation is essential, and with it, we can make sure that
he continues to succeed.I sincerely believe that Kenneth will achieve even greater academic
heights with ongoing effort, support, and cooperation between home and school. I urge you to
keep the lines of communication open with me and Kenneth in order to stay informed about his
development.
I appreciate your continued support and your decision to entrust me with Kenneth's
education. I am honored to be a part of his academic path and am anticipating a productive and
successful year.

Sincerely,
Kenneth's teacher
Ms. Santini
 Salma’s Letter

Dear Parents/Guardians of Salma,

I hope this letter finds you and your family well. As you may know Salma has recently
taken the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, also known as the FCAT. I am writing this
letter to provide you with a little more information on what the FCAT entails and Salma’s score.
As her teacher I feel it is crucial to keep you informed and active in your child's academic
development.
Above all I want to thank your student for her hard work and dedication over the school
year. It is very impressive that they have continually demonstrated a good outlook, commitment,
and true excitement for learning. I am pleased with what she has achieved so far.
When it comes to the FCAT itself I would like to take this opportunity to give you some
knowledge as to what the test entails. The FCAT is a test that the students should take annually
that is designed to measure their progress in important academic areas. It is a crucial tool for
determining how well students grasp and know fundamental subjects and it enables us to
identify areas of strength and areas that may require additional attention. Salam took the Norm-
referenced reading and mathematics FCAT. This means that Salma’s scores were compared to
other student’s scores that have also taken the test.
Now, allow me to point out a few noteworthy accomplishments! When it comes to the
Reading Comprehension subject, Salma achieved a scale score of 721. This puts Salma in the
98th national percentile rank. This means that Salma scored the same as or above 98% of the
students that took this test. There is also another method of scaling test scores that was
implemented with this test that is called a Stanine score. It is a nine point scale that is frequently
used in academic assessments to offer a more straightforward means of comprehending and
contrasting individual test results or group performance. If a student scores anything ranging
from 1-3 they are considered below average. If a student scores anything ranging from 4-6 they
are considered average and if a student scores anything from 7-9 they are considered above
average. According to Salma’s test score data, she achieved a stanine score of 9 which marks
her as above average. When it comes to the Mathematics Problem Solving subject, Salma
achieved a scale score of 704. This puts her in the 96th national percentile rank which means
that she scored the same as or above 96% of all students that took this exam. She also
achieved a 9 on the stanine scale which puts her at an above average ranking.
Salma has shown to have many strengths when it comes to her abilities in reading
comprehension and mathematics problem solving. The reading assessment consisted of a total
of 54 questions and Salma was able to answer 51 of those correct. This is well above the
national mean of correct responses which was 33 out of the 54 questions correct. Salma did
incredibly well at the questions on the reading exam that tested her ability to recognize and
describe strategies used by the author or apply appropriate reader strategies. She answered all
10 of these questions correctly which is well above the national mean of 6 out of 10. She
excelled in every other category, only getting one wrong in each of the categories. The
mathematics section of the test consisted of 48 questions and Salma was able to correctly
answer 45 of these questions correctly. Compared to the national mean of correct responses,
which was 30 out of 48, Salma is way above average! She did great in all of the categories and
especially excelled in the category of geometry and measurement, which consists of
understanding the characteristics and properties of solid figures, coordinate geometry, and
special reasoning and so forth. Out of the 10 questions in this category she answered all ten
correct and the national mean was only 5 out of 10! Overall Salma showed many strengths
while taking this test and will continue to grow and develop academically with your support.
If you have any inquiries, worries, or would like to learn more about your child's growth,
don't hesitate to contact me. Your cooperation is essential, and with it, we can make sure that
Salma continues to succeed.I sincerely believe that she will achieve even greater academic
heights with ongoing effort, support, and cooperation between home and school. I urge you to
keep the lines of communication open with me and Salma in order to stay informed about her
development.
I appreciate your continued support and your decision to entrust me with Salma’s
education. I am honored to be a part of her academic path and am anticipating a productive and
successful year.

Sincerely,
Salma's teacher
Ms. Santini