How FCAT Has Become Another Unfunded Mandate; What Affect Will it Have on the Failure to Fund Suit? | Scathing Purple Musings

How FCAT Has Become Another Unfunded Mandate; What Affect Will it Have on the Failure to Fund Suit? | Scathing Purple Musings:

How FCAT Has Become Another Unfunded Mandate; What Affect Will it Have on the Failure to Fund Suit?

by Bob Sikes

The Miami Herald calls out the state’s policy-makers for last weeks revelations that 10th graders across the state were sharing information about FCAT questions:

The fretting, anxiety, even cold sweats, during Florida’s big exam week are over. Public-school students wrapped up their FCAT last week in a year when the bar to pass the high-stakes standardized test has jumped higher and the consequences for teachers and administrators loom large.
For 10th-graders who must pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to get a high school diploma, the challenge was finding a computer to take the computerized reading test and resisting the temptation to cheat.
Incredibly, the state’s solution to too few computers in public schools and no requirement to have different reading tests for staggered shifts of students taking them was to demand that students