Keys school administrators said there are likely curriculum problems causing students to score well on a state achievement test but poorly on national tests in the same subjects.</p><p>“It’s the curriculum and the educational experiences kids are having in those classrooms that’s going to drive those scores,” interim Superintendent Joseph Burke told the School Board on Tuesday. “This is one of several conversations we’re going to have on this.”</p><p>However, Burke and District Assessment Director Bruce King also said the data showing those trends among high-school students — collected and presented by School Board member John Dick — don’t tell the whole story.</p><p>“Nothing that I say is going to contradict the fact we need to concentrate on preparing students” for the tests, King said. “I think we need to do it in a very scientific, reasoning and statistical manner.”</p><p>Dick said statistics from the Florida Department of Education show the school district has focused too much on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT, and not enough on preparing students for the SAT and ACT college entrance exams.</p><p>The data show that in 2007, Keys 10th graders scored in the top 15 of Florida’s 67 school districts in FCAT reading, math and science tests. The FCAT is used by the state to measure student progress and determine some funding for districts.</p><p>However, those same students as 12th graders in 2009 scored near the bottom of the state in the ACT test - 46th in reading, 38th in math and 47th in science. </p><p>Similarly low scores were noted in the SAT math and reading exams. However, Dick’s report focused on the ACT, which he said more high school students take as opposed to the SAT. The SAT doesn’t have a science portion.</p><p>Monroe County’s total change from where the students placed on the FCAT versus the ACT is 87 places — the highest in the state. The average deviation among all Florida districts is about 24.</p><p>Dick also notes in his report that Okaloosa County is the top scorer in all three subjects of the FCAT and the ACT. Hamilton County ranks last in science for both tests, and Gadsden County is last in the FCAT for math and reading and is next to last in those subjects for the ACT.</p><p>“Not only is it reasonable to expect that a district, which is a top scorer in FCAT tests of math, reading and science, would also be a top scorer in the ACT tests of the same subjects, accepting that outcome is fundamental in order to recognize the validity of each respective test,” Dick states in the report. “For each test to be valid, it must produce, more or less, the same result.”</p><p>King argued the exams test different areas and have different goals, with the FCAT simply testing if students are performing at state standards for their grade level.</p><p>He said many students who don’t score at least 3 (on a scale of 1 to 5) on the FCAT can still graduate by taking the ACT and scoring just 15 out of 36 — and those students could be lowering overall ACT scores in the Keys.</p><p>Dick argued that because Keys students score well on the FCAT, there should be fewer students taking the ACT just to graduate high school.</p><p>However, part of the reason for the testing gap could be demographic — specifically the decrease in white students taking tests, one administrator said.</p><p>Chief Academic Officer Mike Henriquez presented data that showed Keys high schoolers performing slightly below the state and national averages on the SAT tests.</p><p>However, Hispanic students in the Keys scored above their national counterparts. The number of Hispanic test takers went up 30.6 percent since 2005, while the number of black test takers was up 10.5 percent.</p><p>However, the overall number of test takers went down 14.5 percent in that same period.