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Seven hundred parents contacted the Department of Education on the first day of a new hotline and web site for FCAT information. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the outreach was prompted by a disastrous drop in writing scores that forced the state to lower its grading standard.

The calls keep coming.

“Thank you for calling the Florida Department of Education’s FCAT 2.0 call center.”

Two hundred fifty people called on the first day of a first ever FCAT hot line for parents.

“Everybody is just a little concerned,” Hotline operator Jasmine Hopkins said. “Everybody wants to know where the scores are. They have questions regarding why the FCAT is important. You know, just typical parent questions. Some are friendly, and some are not so friendly.”

The hotline was created after the state realized it wasn’t doing a good job of communicating changes in FCAT scores.

“We discovered that there was a large gap between what we were putting out and what our parents knew,” Hotline Supervisor Kelly Seay said.

In addition to the calls, another 400 parents visited a first ever web site for questions and answers.

What they saw was a feel good video.

“Classes will be tougher and tests will be harder, but I know our students will meet the challenge.”

But another video, titled “Standardized Tests Epic Fail” has gotten almost a quarter million hits.

“It’s standardized! You can’t keep changing the standard.”

Back at the hot line, many of the callers wanted information on FCAT reading scores, which haven’t yet been released.

“At this time we don’t know exactly how third grade has done,” Seay said.

The reading scores will determine pass or fail for some students. They are expected to be out late this week or early next.

The hotline is operating from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will be operational until at least the end of June. The number is 1.866.507.1109