The Florida State Separtment of Education released the scores for the writing portion of the Florida Comprehensive Test (F-CAT) Thursday. The news was mixed in the Bay County area.

Overall, 4th graders F-CAT writing scores are not only down from last year, their not even passing.

For the most part the 8th and 10th grade scores remained steady from last year.

This year's score revealed only 60% of 4th graders pass with a 3.5 or better. Last year that number was 66%.

83% of the county's 8th graders passed, the exact same percentage as 2007.

The 10th grade scores were off, slightly, down one percentage point from a year ago.

When you break down the two different parts of the test, you can see how each grade level performed.

4th graders came in with a combined score came in at 3.4, a tenth of a point away from passing.

8th graders did well once again, scoring a combined 4.0, same as last year.

10th graders only tested in the persuasive section this year. They didn't do as well as last year, but still passed with a 3.9.

Bay County School Superintendent James McCalister says he's concerned about the district-wide performance, but the 4th grade scores are troubling,

"The big concern....it's always a concern when you have a decrease it's always a concern and when your not meeting at the proficiency level which we did not meet at the 4th grade is the greatest concern."

The news was not all bad, there were some bright spots. Lynn Haven Elementary had the best F-CAT reading scores among elementary schools, with 81% of the 4th graders earning a passing grade.

Lynn Haven''s principal Lee Stafford says, "We are up this year..we are top in the district and so we're just extremely proud to see all their hard work pay off."

Mowat and Merritt Brown Middle Schools each had 90% of their 8th graders pass. Bay Haven Middle students has 93%. Bozeman and Mosley's 10th graders did very well too.

84% passed at Bozeman and 83% passed at Mosley.

Individual student scores should be available Tuesday morning on the F-CAT parent network.