Taking Up the Jeb Bush Gang of Five On Their Offer to “Talk About FCAT”
Last week’s decision by Florida House Speaker-in-waiting Will Weatherford to put his name on an op-ed in support of Florida oppression test regime, increased the number to five of Jeb Bush loyalists attempting to defend what essentially is Bush’s education legacy. I’m skeptical that any member of Jeb Bush’s Gang of Five - Weatherford, Kathleen Shanahan, Patricia Levesque, John Winn or Gerard Robinson – would actually consider criticism of FCAT valid, but educator and writer Marion Brady gives it a try. This from a column Brady wrote forOrlando Sentinel:
“Gerard Robinson, Florida’s Education Commissioner, and Kathleen Shanahan, chair of the State Board of Education, want to “continue to talk about the FCAT” (“Raising standards: FCAT is a portal to a lifetime of success,” Orlando Sentinel, June 10).
“Gerard Robinson, Florida’s Education Commissioner, and Kathleen Shanahan, chair of the State Board of Education, want to “continue to talk about the FCAT” (“Raising standards: FCAT is a portal to a lifetime of success,” Orlando Sentinel, June 10).
Great. I have some concerns.
It worries me that the tests:
(1) can’t measure complex thought processes
(2) provide minimal to no useful feedback to classroom teachers,
(3) lead to the neglect of physical conditioning, music, art and other nonverbal