FCAT Debacle: Why Public Awareness Matters

FCAT Debacle: Why Public Awareness Matters:

FCAT Debacle: Why Public Awareness Matters

by Susan Headden

Florida residents have been fuming over the latest fiasco in standardized testing— the plummeting scores on the writing portion of the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test, which had been changed to reflect higher standards.  Only 27 percent of the state’s fourth-graders passed the test this year, compared to 81 percent who were deemed proficient last year. The state’s response? It lowered the score for passing the test.
That action, taken by the state board of education in an emergency session, may have been necessary for officials to work out bugs in scoring and for teachers to adjust their instruction to the new demands.  The FCAT is, after all, a high-stakes exam that is used not just to assess students but to grade schools and teachers.  But over the long term, relaxing cut scores on tests of basic skills (in this case grammar and punctuation) serves only to perpetuate the sorts of lies that we have been telling our children for years— that they are proficient in essential subjects like math and English when in fact they are not. A better reaction would be to keep the proficiency bar high and to give teachers what they need to help students clear it.
The fact is, states and districts are going to have to get used to these rude surprises. In just two years, the 46