Don't lower FCAT bar

I can't believe anyone is advocating lowering the standards of the FCAT - as this writer points out, kids had 5 tries before they "strike out", they only have to answer 50% of the questions correctly... and the school spends the entire school year teaching to the test!!! Talk about dumbing down. Maybe the FCAT should be eliminated, go back to teaching academics, require seniors to take a test similar to the SATs in order to graduate - juniors can have a non-scoring run at the test in order to determine which areas of studies need more attention during their senior year - any senior who doesn't pass the test then goes on to summer school for intensive study, takes the test - if fails, must sit out one year before taking test again. Third time out, recommend student to remedial classes to earn GED. Perhaps the more disturbing aspect of the low bar of expectation with the FCAT is that these students are actually going on to college - without the ability to read, write, or analyze. Those bumper stickers declaring that "my dog is smarter than your honor student" may be more truth than joke

having fcat experience only from my sons 3rd grade level, i would say, teach the kids what they need to learn. over and over, till they get it. not put them in a situation of sink or swim. that discourages. it is a great thing to help our kids be successful, but we have to teach them the material. i am a college grad, aircraft tech. some of the questions on the 3rd grade test were should i say challenging for me. the idea is to help not hinder. discouragement is only one of the things that make kids quit. not all of us are gifted brainiacs.

Abolish the FCAT, this is a waste of time and other learning is suffering because of the focus on the FCAT.

I do not "allow" my children to take these tests. They are used to determine funding and raises for teachers. Most children do not learn the other basics of Math & English because so much time is spent on these useless tests.

Most of us over the age of 35 never had to take the test(s) and we are not ignorant.

Parents do your kids a favor, don't let them be pushed to take the FCAT. Instead, work with them to be well rounded in all subjects.

FastJack wrote:

I can't believe anyone is advocating lowering the standards of the FCAT - as this writer points out, kids had 5 tries before they "strike out", they only have to answer 50% of the questions correctly... and the school spends the entire school year teaching to the test!!! Talk about dumbing down. Maybe the FCAT should be eliminated, go back to teaching academics, require seniors to take a test similar to the SATs in order to graduate - juniors can have a non-scoring run at the test in order to determine which areas of studies need more attention during their senior year - any senior who doesn't pass the test then goes on to summer school for intensive study, takes the test - if fails, must sit out one year before taking test again. Third time out, recommend student to remedial classes to earn GED. Perhaps the more disturbing aspect of the low bar of expectation with the FCAT is that these students are actually going on to college - without the ability to read, write, or analyze. Those bumper stickers declaring that "my dog is smarter than your honor student" may be more truth than joke

This is a stupid comment. Rifts in education have always been there and the "FCAT" is not the end all, be all of educational tools. My kids have NEVER taken one, and NEVER will as long as I am alive. They are also honor roll students, with one graduating with a 4.0 GPA. But he never took an FCAT, so tell me again how these baseless tests, help.

newtooocala wrote:

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This is a stupid comment. Rifts in education have always been there and the "FCAT" is not the end all, be all of educational tools. My kids have NEVER taken one, and NEVER will as long as I am alive. They are also honor roll students, with one graduating with a 4.0 GPA. But he never took an FCAT, so tell me again how these baseless tests, help.

Re-read my statement and think critically about what I wrote - I am not advocating the FCAT. if, however, the state continues to require standardized testing for so-called academic evaluation, then do so as a requirement for graduation - quit using a curricula that teaches only to the test. A broad based knowledge is what is needed - how many high school seniors actually can find Florida on a map? How many can explain Newton's Law? How many can explain the cultural influences on the American revolution? How many can discourse on the motivating philosophies for the Declaration of Independence - indeed, how many can name the architect of the Declaration of Independence? How many students can add, multiply, subtract, and divide without using a calculator? How many know "pi"? When a person doesn't have a base of knowledge about their own world, how can we expect them to make a pro-active contribution?

European and UK schools have used series of tests similar to the FCAT for decades. You pass or you don't proceed - it's a no brainer. Not everyone is cut out for college level work but it is best to find this out before Mom and Dad lay out the thousands of dollars to see it flushed down the toilet when Junior's only passing grade turned out to be in beer swilling, marijuana smoking, and partying 101.

To the lady who "doesn't let my children take the FCAT" - You are an idiot. I shouldn't complain though, because America needs someone to clean the fish, wash the dishes and empty the garbage cans. Do you think not allowing your spoiled brats to find out how stupid they are compared to other kids is going to make them smarter ? Please, go have your tubes tied and cauterized so you at least can't ruin anymore kids lives.

WHY ISN'T THE FCAT WRITTEN ON GRADE LEVEL THEN? WHY DO YOU ONLY DEEM IT FAIR THAT STUDENTS PASS A TEST THAT IS WRITTEN 1-2 YEARS ABOVE THE GRADE LEVEL THEY ARE IN? So sick of the Sentinel not doing their homework on the issues!!!

Jeff wrote:

WHY ISN'T THE FCAT WRITTEN ON GRADE LEVEL THEN? WHY DO YOU ONLY DEEM IT FAIR THAT STUDENTS PASS A TEST THAT IS WRITTEN 1-2 YEARS ABOVE THE GRADE LEVEL THEY ARE IN? So sick of the Sentinel not doing their homework on the issues!!!

Jeff, I suggest that is YOU who is not doing his homework. The FCAT questions are reviewed by a group of Florida educators who are actually in our schools. One of the criteria used to judge the test questions is their readability. The questions must be written on grade level or below. If you run readability tests on the released questions, for example, you'll find this to be the case.

HEy ! liten UP we're doin th best we CAn !?!
me, i LIKe the fCaTZ causE it Means I don'T have to lissen to borin teechers awl th time!

For once I agree. The FCAT is so easy now the illegal Mexicans can pass it. What a freakin joke these government public crap schools are.

Don't lower the bar, find out why some are unable to perform at or above grade level! There will be a dis-service done to the individual and our society as a whole if the standards are lowered. Do we want to have a generation of "functional illiterates?" I think not!!!!!

Yeah, KEEP lowering the standard...the educational system is now not much more than a meat processing plant, more concerned with quantity rather than quality.

I guess it makes sense if one is an ADMINISTRATOR more concerned with the overall averages than with the quality of education they are putting forth.

The big lie is that President Bush's No Child Left Behind act is somehow a failure. Anyone with half a brain (and many administrators are seriously suspect) knows that overarching policy is one thing, and that the administration of said policy is another. The problems are NOT with policy but with the methods chosen to administer said policies...and that falls squarely on the shoulders of the administrator who CHOOSE to teach to the tests more concerned about the numbers than to actually teach substance and retention.

It is time to put an end to the education scam in this nation anyway.

Folks, you never read an article that shows the report teachers have on each child. A grade of student called “exceptional education’ is abbreviated “ESE.” These children have a learning disability but many times this designation can simply mean “lazy”, misses school a lot, or never does homework. Many times it also designates a child with a parent who is a no show on appointments with teachers when their child is a trouble maker or just won’t pay attention and will not do the work assigned. The “No Child Left Behind Act” grades schools only on the bottom 20% of students and how they are being educated. Florida actually started the FCAT when Governor Chiles was in office and before No Child Left Behind. Grades that Schools get at the Federal and State level are very impacted by the number of ESE children in a school and if the students advance in achievement. Why are these non-achieving students allowed to pass on to a regular college prep high school?

In the past ESE children had teachers who were trained to teach “ESE’ children. Not anymore! Now these children are being mainstreamed in classes with average kids. There is a negative impact on the average kids. The main difference is you cannot fail an ESE child. The worst you can do is give them a grade of D. The kids are smart enough to catch on and realize they can do nothing and pass to the next grade. Many ESE children have advanced to the 7th grade and have 3rd grade skills at best. They have FCAT scores in the 100’s when average kids have 300’s. They get FCAT 100 for just printing their name. Regular teachers struggle with these children because if they teach 7th grade they plan to teach 7th grade skills and are slowed by ESE non-achievers. Many teachers now are looking for other jobs. Top students are FCAT high 300’s and 400’s and are in advanced classes. Translated 7th grade ESE children cannot spell, have troubles with vocabulary and try to read a Sports Page out loud with a hesitant reading style but cannot understand most of the content. Math skills are at a minimum. They are in the 7th grade but do not know the multiplication tables and can barely add and subtract. Division of 3 digit numbers is a skill they do not have. When 7th grade teachers present fractions ESE students are totally lost and cannot keep up. No matter how low they score on the FCAT they are advanced to high school. No matter how easy the FCAT test is to get a high school degree, they will not pass the test and most will drop out during sophomore year. This scenario plays out in every city in this country. Low performing students never get the skills to get a good job.

I pre-tested my drafting students with unit basics: ie reading a ruler, converting units, ratios, etc.. I even gave the questions from the Naturalization test.

Most of my students could NOT read a ruler, convert feet to inches or knew why we celebrate the Fourth of July.

I was fired for pointing out these deficiencies.

Mark wrote:

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Jeff, I suggest that is YOU who is not doing his homework. The FCAT questions are reviewed by a group of Florida educators who are actually in our schools. One of the criteria used to judge the test questions is their readability. The questions must be written on grade level or below. If you run readability tests on the released questions, for example, you'll find this to be the case.

I have a Masters Degree in Reading Education from UCF. We ran readability statistics on all released FCAT passages. Only ONE was on grade level. NONE were below grade level. ALL of the rest, in ALL grade levels, were ABOVE. You are the one who needs to do your homework!

Thank you so much for your positive report on the F-CAT. My daughter did well on it - she got 5's on both math and english and graduated at the top of her class. She said the test was a good measure of both students and teachers and she would hate to see it watered down or eliminated. She had good teachers who did more than just teach for the test, they taught her many valuable learning skills which she continues to use in college.

Well, I must not be as smart as you. I only have a BS in Tech. Ed. and graduated Summa Cum Laude. I thought reading a ruler was a concept that should have been mastered in Elem.? At what grade are students taught to know who the father of our country, the architect of the constitution or the silly little Bill of Rights?

Jennifer wrote:

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I have a Masters Degree in Reading Education from UCF. We ran readability statistics on all released FCAT passages. Only ONE was on grade level. NONE were below grade level. ALL of the rest, in ALL grade levels, were ABOVE. You are the one who needs to do your homework!

I feel the Norm Referenced Test NRT should be used to evaluate students instead of the Sunshine State Standards SSS exam. The NRT compares students to the national averages which is a more fair evaluation in my opinion.

Gotta love the FCAT bashers, they'll never understand why standardized tests are a necessity and will continue to rationalize their poor performance on these tests when they were a kid.

Ex-orange teacher wrote:

I pre-tested my drafting students with unit basics: ie reading a ruler, converting units, ratios, etc.. I even gave the questions from the Naturalization test.
Most of my students could NOT read a ruler, convert feet to inches or knew why we celebrate the Fourth of July.
I was fired for pointing out these deficiencies.

i am sorry that u were treated this way for caring.... some of us do care.