Polk County Public Schools, Parents
Pupil Promotion in Polk County’s public elementary schools is based upon an evaluation of each student’s achievement. The basis for making the determination should reflect consideration of the following: teacher made tests, classroom assignments, portfolio assessments, daily observations, standardized tests, state assessment, and other objective data.
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The Florida Department of Education website explains that "the State of Florida has, for some years, been committed to perfecting a workable system of accountability for the public schools. The Florida Statewide Assessment Program, begun in 1971, has been an important element in this accountability effort. The program was designed to assess students' academic strengths and weaknesses, particularly in the basic skills." The following tests are a part of the Florida Statewide Assessment Program.
As taken from the FLDOE website, "The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is a component of Florida's effort to improve the teaching and learning of higher educational standards. The primary purpose of the FCAT is to assess student achievement of the high-order thinking skills represented in the Sunshine State Standards (SSS) for Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Science. The SSS portion of the FCAT is a criterion-referenced test. The secondary purpose is to compare the performance of Florida students to the performance of students across the nation. This comparison is possible through the use of a norm-referenced test (NRT) for Reading and Mathematics. The current NRT is the Stanford Achievement Test 10© (SAT10) published by Harcourt Assessment, Incorporated."
Eligible students who have graduated with a Certificate of Completion from a Polk County public high school and who wish to retake the mathematics or communications section of the High School Competency Test (HSCT), should call the Assessment, Accountability and Evaluation office (534-0688) to register.
According to the Inernational Baccalaureate website, "The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is a challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19. It leads to a qualification that is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities." The testing schedule will be posted here when it is available.