Why Florida’s High School End of Course Exam Regime May Cause a New Surge in Drop Outs
Looking to curry favor with skeptical voters, Rick Scott’s been going around telling everybody that there won’t be any new tests for a while. He’s right, but the decision was in place before he became governor. In Florida high schools, the transition away from FCAT to course specific end-of-course exams was made during Charlie Crist’s governorship. Kids entering high school this year will be required to pass Algebra I, Biology, Geometry, Civics and United States History before graduating. Orlando Sentinel reporter Leslie Postal takes a look at where we are now:
The passing rate on Florida’s new biology and geometry exams — now must-pass tests for a high school diploma — would be under 60 percent if a proposed scoring system is adopted.
That would put success on the state’s newest end-of-course exams on par with its algebra 1 exam, which 58 percent of students passed last spring.
Local educators fear in coming years that thousands of high school students will fail one or more of