Excerpt from

“Florida's 3rd-Graders Fare Better in FCAT Reading, Math”

© May 22, 2008 Orlando Sentinel

Orange County officials said they were happy with their large district's steady progress – reading scores up 17 percentage points in six years – and delighted with the big leaps at some of its schools.

At Hungerford Elementary, 47 percent of third-graders did well on FCAT reading last year. This year it was 79 percent.

Principal Jenell Bovis said her small school relied on good teaching and reading programs* with structured lessons and encouragement for students to read on their own.