Don't lower FCAT bar

SentinelBlather wrote:

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.

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.

UncommonSense wrote:

Don't lower the standards, Increase the standards. That is one of the main problems today, there is no competition, you get an award for showing up. We lower standards so everyone's feelings are not hurt, it is ridiculous.

Jim Davis wrote:

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There are also MANY students graduating high school with the GPA to enter college who according to many instructors I have spoken with have to be put into remedial and pre-requsite training just to be able to compete at the college level. The problem? They should ALREADY be at that standard according to their GPA so it tells me either the standard is wrong or they are simply being processed for the sake of appearances. Some even at the post grad level are borderline incompetent when it comes to basic skills.

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

newtooocala wrote:

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:

<quoted text>Jennifer, have you ever taught reading or do you just research? Education isn't only about stats, it's about people - and our kids might be able to read, but are unable to comprehend, analyze, synthesize, or retain the knowledge. FCAT is about regurgitation - standardized tests should be used only as a marker, an indicator of where problems exist, not as evidence that our children are learning.

Informed wrote:

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If they can't comprehend, analyze & synthesize they can't read. You're confusing reading with decoding. Lots of kids can decode, not many can read. I can decode Spanish, but I have no idea what it means.

flfosgl43 wrote:

Florida Motto "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND." Well my 18 yr old daughter may not graduate high school if she doesn't pass the FCAT. She has one last shot next week. She has been an A/B student most of her life, but can't get past this test. So what does this mean for her? A piece of paper that says "thanks for attending"? Get a GED after working so hard in high school. I don't think so. It's not fair to put kids through 12 yrs of schooling and not give them a diploma. My daughter is one of many. Don't let the school system and their stats fool you. There are loads of kids in Huntington Learning Center whose parents are paying big bucks to get them to the point that they can pass the FCAT. I just think it's wrong. My daughter wants to go to college. That's all she talks about. But if she doesn't pass FCAT then what does she do? Any one want to answer that?

sue d wrote:

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.

sue d wrote:

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.

Minx wrote:

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I'm glad your daughter did well on the FCAT just be prepared for her to remedial on the college level. It happened to my son and other friends of his and they all passed the FCAT.

The One wrote:

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I would agree with this statement if this was the case in every school and classroom but unfortunately, it is not the case. I know many teachers and they will tell you they are teaching the FCAT.....I personally think the FCAT should be done away with....Testing throughout the year should let teachers know how students are progressing. Give the students a final exam for each class at the end of the school year to find out what they have learned. This is the way it was when my generation went to school and we turned out fine (for the most part)....

Informed wrote:

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In what way are teachers "teaching to the test"?

Informed wrote:

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In what way are teachers "teaching to the test"?