Wakulla Middle School Makes Writing History

On February 6th, every fourth, eighth, and tenth grader in the state of Florida took a writing exam called the FCAT Writing + test. Each student was given one of two pre-determined writing prompts; the topics were unknown to both students and teachers prior to the test. A 45 minute time limit was given in which each student had to write a two page essay on his or her given topic. The essays were then sent to the Department of Education where each essay was scored by two separate, highly trained judges. The final essay score was based on the overall quality of the essay, and was ranked on a scale of one to six, with one being the lowest and six being the highest. An essay had to be well focused and organized, technically accurate, and very creative in order to receive a score of six.

The scores for this year’s FCAT Writing Plus test were released on Wednesday, April 25th. Wakulla Middle School was ecstatic to find that a record thirty-five of their eighth graders had received a perfect six score and thirty-seven students had received a score of 5.5 (average with one judge giving the essay a six and one judge giving it a five). This means 72 of 162 students, or 45% of eighth graders at Wakulla Middle School received the highest score possible from at least one judge on this exam. In addition to this phenomenal achievement, 92% of all eighth graders at WMS received a passing score of 3.5 or higher. WMS teachers, staff, and Principal JoAnn Daniels are very proud of the hard work these eighth graders put into reaching this milestone.

Students receiving a perfect six score were Kelsey Alyea, Mitchell Barker, Kaylee Chatham, Shelby Coleman, Wayne Cotner, Marshall Harvey, Shawna Jones, Courtney Marcionette, Delia Ostojich, Haylee Phelps, Taylor Saladin, Hayden Tondee, Andrea Torres, Pierre Barfield, Raheem Bascom, Maya Bateman, Chelsea Brower, Jasmine Casey, Joshua Dismuke, Shawn Dolce, Rebecca Douin, Olivia Garcia, Sterling Guilford, Kayla Haley, Chase Land, Nikki Leo, Brooke Luke, Benjamin Martinez, Autumn Porter, Hannah Proulx, Heather Pumphrey, Sarah Roberts, Megan Spears, Blair Tucker, and Kelsie Tully.

Wakulla Middle School’s combined score average of 4.9 put them well above the state average of 4.1, and the district average of 4.6 makes Wakulla County the number one school district for eighth grade writing achievement in Florida. A county-wide eighth grade reward for this spectacular academic feat is being planned by Wakulla Middle School principal JoAnn Daniels and Riversprings Middle School principal Dod Walker. Way to go eighth graders!

- Cindy Burse, WMS Teacher

This article originally published on April 30, 2007.

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