SARASOTA COUNTY STUDENTS’ AVERAGE SCORES ON THE FLORIDA COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT TEST CONTINUE TO RUN HIGHER THAN STATE AVERAGES IN ALL FOUR CATEGORIES.  SCHOOL OFFICIALS SAY READING SCORES IN GRADES THREE THRU TEN ARE ELEVEN TO NINETEEN POINTS HIGHER THAN STATE AVERAGES, WHILE MATH SCORES ARE SIX TO EIGHTEEN POINTS HIGHER.  SCIENCE SCORES ARE TEN TO TWENTY-THREE POINTS HIGHER THAN STATE AVERAGES, WHILE WRITING SCORES WERE HIGHER THAN LAST YEAR IN ALL CATEGORIES.  HOWEVER, GRADE TEN DISTRICT PASSING RATES WERE DOWN.  READING WAS DOWN TWO PERCENT TO SIXTY EIGHT PERCENT, WHILE MATH WAS DOWN A PERCENTAGE POINT TO EIGHTY-EIGHT PERCENT.  SARASOTA PASSING RATES ARE EIGHT POINTS HIGHER THAN THE STATE AVERAGES.