Yearly Database Renewal
To prepare for the new school year, all FCAT Explorer and Focus sign-in names and passwords for students and teachers were deleted on August 2nd. New sign-in names and passwords will be available when your school district has completed the re-enrollment process, typically within two weeks after the start of school. Additionally, student performance data and class records will be deleted.

Starting August 3rd, the Support Services Team will be working with your district office to process student and teacher sign-in names and passwords. Once the enrollment for your district is complete, your FCAT Explorer School Administrator will distribute new sign-in names and passwords.

FCAT Testing Schedule 2012
The dates below reflect the statewide assessment schedule. Contact your district or school for more specific dates and times.

February 28 – March 1, 2012: FCAT Writing (Grades 4, 8, and 10)

April 16 – 27, 2012: FCAT 2.0 Reading (Grades 3 – 10), FCAT 2.0 Mathematics (Grades 3 – 8), FCAT 2.0 Science (Grades 5 and 8)

December 5 – 16, 2011 or January 9 – 20, 2012: Algebra 1 EOC Assessment*

April 23 – May 11, 2012: Geometry EOC Assessment, Biology 1 EOC Assessment*

April 23 – June 1, 2012: U.S. History EOC Field Test

April 30 – May 18, 2012: Algebra 1 EOC Assessment*

Click here for more information.

*Subjects must be tested in the following order: Geometry, Biology 1, Algebra 1. All testing for a single subject must be completed in a district before testing for the next subject may begin. Testing for a single subject may not exceed two weeks. U.S. History may be tested at any time during the field-test window.

Geometry Updates
Next year marks the first time that high-school level Geometry will require students to take and pass an End of Course Assessment. In order to better prepare teachers and students for this change, Geometry assessments are now being offered in the Focus program. Geometry teachers may now create classes and open assessments in Focus, just as they would for any of the other Focus programs. Once assessments are opened, students may go in and complete the five-question benchmark assessments.

Teachers, please remember:

• Students cannot view or complete assessments unless you open them
• Classes can be easily imported from FCAT Explorer
• Assessments are meant to coincide with or supplement lessons taught in the classroom

FCAT Explorer and Focus Newsletter
From 2006 to 2011, the FCAT Explorer/Focus Support newsletter was delivered to all public school teachers in Florida via e-mail. The newsletter provided teachers and administrators with the latest information about these two free resources from the Department of Education.

To see previous issues of the newsletter, click on one of the links below:
ISSUE 1, FALL 2006
ISSUE 2, WINTER 2007
ISSUE 3, SPRING 2007
ISSUE 4, SUMMER 2007

ISSUE 5, FALL 2007
ISSUE 6, WINTER 2008
ISSUE 7, SPRING 2008

ISSUE 8, FALL 2008
ISSUE 9, WINTER 2009
ISSUE 10, SPRING 2009

ISSUE 11, FALL 2009
ISSUE 12, WINTER 2010
ISSUE 13, SPRING 2010

ISSUE 14, FALL 2010
ISSUE 15, SPRING 2011

Algebra I Updates
Attention Algebra Teachers

The 2010-2011 school year marks the beginning of the End of Course (EOC) exam for Algebra I. The Algebra I-NGSSS program in Focus is designed to help prepare students for this assessment. Recently, we have gotten requests from teachers of middle school students taking Algebra I to broaden the parameters of the grade-level requirements established for the Focus class. We have made the appropriate changes to the Focus program. Now, teachers with students taking Algebra I and the Algebra I EOC exam will be able to create their classes and add their middle school students without complication.

If you have any questions about these changes or any of the other FCAT Explorer and Focus offerings, please contact the Help Desk at 1-888-750FCAT.

New Sunshine State Standards
The Florida Department of Education (DOE) plans to provide direction to districts and schools in January about the deployment of the new Sunshine State Standards.

In the current timeline for revision of state assessments, DOE will field test new reading and mathematics test items in 2010 and baseline these new assessments in 2011. Draft Test Item Specifications for these content areas should be available on DOE's web site, fcat.fldoe.org, in late summer 2008. The revision of Florida's science assessments will occur at least a year later than reading and mathematics. The revision of the state writing assessments will likely follow science by one year and baseline no earlier than 2013.

Focus Enhancement
The FCAT Explorer Support Services Team recently completed an enhancement to Focus. Teachers and students now have incorrect-answer feedback for every practice question. After students complete each mini-assessment, they will be able to see which questions they answered incorrectly. The new student score page will list each question, the student's answer, and the correct answer.

Enhancements to the Teacher's Desk allow teachers to view which questions their individual students missed, to review the content of each question, and to see what percentage of their class answered each question correctly or incorrectly.

Teacher Training Available
The FCAT Explorer/Focus Support Services Team is available to provide training to teachers and staff across the state. Support Services Staff can train any teacher, media specialist, school administrator, or other school staff in using the FCAT Explorer and Focus Teacher's Desk features.

Using a conference call format, Support Services Staff can provide hands-on, step-by-step guidance through the features of the Teacher's Desk, including enrollment, class and student management, reports, program features, and content review. Training can be done on an individual or group basis.

To schedule a teacher training session, call 1-888-750-3228.

Send Us Your Stories!
How do you use Focus? Over the years, teachers have shared with us their stories about Focus and how their students use it. We'd like to compile these kinds of stories for use in future issues of the newsletter. If you have a tip for other teachers, suggestions for incentives, or a success story, we'd love to hear from you.

Click here to submit a success story or an incentive. After we collect your suggestions, we'll publish them in an upcoming issue of the newsletter.

District and School Enrollment Status
The list of Currently Enrolled Districts below allows you to check the enrollment status for your district and school. Click the district name to see a list of all schools in the district that are currently enrolled. You may then click a school name to see the FCAT Explorer School Administrator(s) for that school.

Your FCAT Explorer School Administrator will have the sign-in name and password information for students and teachers at your school. Please contact your School Administrator to find out student and teacher sign-in name and password information.