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Yearly Database Renewal
To prepare for the upcoming school year, the FCAT Explorer Team needs to renew the FCAT Explorer and Focus databases. This annual routine service will take place August 11 through 15, 2010. Several system enhancements will take place during this time as well.
On August 11, all performance data and login information for teachers and students for school year 2009-2010 will be deleted to prepare for a new year of enrollment and data collecting.
Teachers: If you'd like to keep records of your students' performance in FCAT Explorer or Focus, go to Run Reports in the Teacher's Desk. From there, you can print hardcopies of your students' progress during the 2009-2010 school year.
Parents: Students who will need to show proof that they used FCAT Explorer during the summer should print a copy of their Explorer's Report before August 11.
In addition, other changes to the system will take place during the purge including implementing new database servers, and upgrading to Oracle 11. These upgrades will require a brief shutdown of the system. Both FCAT Explorer and Focus will be back online in time for the new school year's re-enrollment period.
During the re-enrollment period, the FCAT Explorer Team will work with your district office to process student and teacher sign-in names and passwords. Once the enrollment for your district is complete, your district office will distribute new sign-in names and passwords to your School Administrator. The list of Currently Enrolled Districts and School Administrators below allows you to check on the enrollment process for your school or district.
Typically, enrollment is complete within two weeks after school starts. Thank you for your patience as we prepare the database for the upcoming school year enrollments.
Reading and Math Item Specifications Released
The 2009 Reading and Mathematics Item Specifications have been released and are available on the DOE website (fcat.fldoe.org). These item specifications are based on the newly revised standards for Reading and Mathematics.
The FCAT Explorer Support Services Team is working to revise the mathematics content in FCAT Explorer and Focus over the next year. To accomplish this, the Team is reviewing the items, revising where necessary, and replacing as needed. The revised content will be available on the
websites after the 2010 administration of the FCAT.
The 2010 FCAT will be based on the 1996 standards for all subjects. Starting in 2011, the 2007 mathematics standards will be tested on the FCAT.
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.
For more information, or to set up a training session, call 888-750-3228.
FCAT Explorer and FOCUS Newsletter
The FCAT Explorer & Focus Newsletter is delivered to all public school teachers in Florida via e-mail. The newsletter is designed to provide teachers and administrators with the latest information about these two free resources from the Department of Education. If you would like to receive the newsletter and have not yet, please send an e-mail to newsletter@fcatexplorer.com and type Subscribe in the subject line.
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
FCAT Explorer and Adobe Flash
Are you up to date?
Currently, most FCAT Explorer programs will run under Adobe Flash Player 6.0. However, it is a good idea to update the Flash Player program on your computer, especially if you want to take advantage of the new features planned for FCAT Explorer.
In June 2008, we launched Science Station: 5th Grade Benchmarks. Science Station and other programs launched in the new school year will run under Adobe Flash Player 7.0.
Please note: The current Flash Player version is 10.0, so if you've updated since October 2008, your Flash player will support all FCAT Explorer programs.
You can download Adobe Flash Player at no cost from the Adobe site. Click here to download Adobe Flash Player.
If you have problems installing the new Flash Player, you can find help from Adobe at this site: http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/.
Best Practice Guidelines Offer Tips for Effective Use
FCAT Explorer Support Services team members have developed a set of Best Practice Guidelines to help you use FCAT Explorer practice programs as effectively as possible. The guidelines offer tips and suggestions in the following areas:
- Starting a New School Year
- Getting Your Students Started
- Signing On
- Exploring Your Teacher's Desk
- Monitoring Student Progress
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- Getting Familiar with the Student Site
- Helping Students Succeed
- Exploring in the Classroom
- Encouraging After-School Use
- Getting Technical Assistance
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To access the guidelines, click the link at the end of this article. On subsequent visits, you can click Educator Resources on the home page—you'll find the FCAT Explorer Best Practice Guidelines link under the School Resources column.
Support Services team members developed the FCAT Explorer Best Practice Guidelines based on discussions and interactions with public school teachers throughout Florida. If you have additional ideas or suggestions to offer, click CONTACT US from the FCAT Explorer home page or your FCAT Explorer Teacher's Desk. You can also give your ideas to a Support Services team member by calling 888.750.3228 toll-free.
The
FCAT Explorer Best Practice Guidelines will be updated as Support Services team members collect new ideas and insights from you and other teachers, so check it out from time to time!
Send Us Your Stories!
How do you use FCAT Explorer and Focus? Over the years, teachers have shared with us their stories about FCAT Explorer 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.
Implementing Next Generation Sunshine State Standards
The question of when the FCAT Explorer and Focus websites will be updated to reflect the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS) has been coming up a lot lately. The Support Services Team and FLDOE are working hard to keep your students prepared for FCAT, as the standards are being updated and revised.
As you may know, the Sunshine State Standards were revised recently. The resulting new standards (NGSSS) will be phased in over the next few years. The content on FCAT Explorer and Focus will be updated based on the scheduled implementation of the NGSSS on the actual FCAT.
Further, this year's FCAT will be based on the 1996 standards for reading, math, and science. This year's FCAT will include some NGSSS mathematics questions that are being field tested, but these will not count in a student's score. Next year (2011), students taking FCAT mathematics will be tested on the NGSSS. Only mathematics is scheduled to switch to NGSSS in 2011. Consequently, the 2009-2010 school year finds the Support Services Team updating the mathematics content on both FCAT Explorer and Focus.
For the 2010 FCAT, what is currently on both FCAT Explorer and Focus is appropriate. When students return to school in the fall of 2010 to start a new year, mathematics content based on the NGSSS will be available.
