F-TREND
Florida Test Reform Email News Digest
Your weekly source of news from the Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform (FCAR)
v. 6 no. 11 - July 27, 2008
Editors' Corner
YOUR OWN COMMENTARY
We welcome your commentary on Florida's educational accountability
system, from a personal, parental, professional, or policy perspective. Send
relevant links to your blog, or we'll post your commentary at
http://fcarweb.org and link to it in
F-TREND. FCAT Stories, which are generally first- person accounts of FCAT
encounters by parents and teachers, are always welcome.
Student Progression Plans--2007-2008 PLANS NOW POSTED
Florida statute requires each school district to submit a document known as
the Student Progression Plan (SPP), to the DOE by September 1 each year.
Among other things, the lengthy document spells out requirements for
promotion and criteria for retention at every grade level. The FLDOE has
links to these policies at
http://www.flbsi.org/schoolimprove/studentprogression/index.htm . As the FCAT noose tightened during the
previous administration, less and less of the SPP was left to local option,
but for advocates of children and policy watchdogs, it's a still a valuable
document for determining just what the rules are--and for opposing them when
they're counter-productive.
Take Action
Sign a Petition Calling for the
Dismantling of NCLB
http://www.petitiononline.com/1teacher/petition.html
By a unanimous vote, the Board of Directors of the Florida Coalition for
Assessment Reform has signed on as an organizational partner of the Educator
Roundtable.
Call for Contributors
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTORS to Educational
Courage: Resisting the Ambush of Public Education
Two distinguished educators from New York are soliciting personal narratives,
poems, analyses, and short stories that will highlight the dramatic changes in
public education since the No Child Left Behind Act. Sections of the book will
include the following:
“Is this what we call ‘education'”?
“I Won’t Be a Part of This”! : Educators, Parents, Students and Community Members Resist
Resisting by Working in the Cracks: Creating Spaces to Teach Authentically
“Not My Voice Alone”: Organizing to Reclaim Public Education
Deadline for submission of proposals is Sept. 1, 2008. Deadline for pieces is
November 1, 2008. For more information see
http://fcarweb.org/docs/call_for_contributors.htm .
News
Educators cast doubts on FCAT results
http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/2008/06/a-bigger-worry.html
By Ron Matus, Donna Winchester and Jeffrey S. Solochek
St. Petersburg Times
June 12, 2008
Time to take FCAT . . . again; 10th-graders struggling students will retake reading portion
http://tinyurl.com/5uu85s
By Jason Wermers
Southwest Florida News-Press [Fort Myers]
June 23, 2008
Fewer students read between lines
http://tinyurl.com/63qx43
By Marilyn Brown
Tampa Tribune
July 1, 2008
The Tribune reporter
acknowledges a key factor in helping high school students become thoughtful,
committed readers--give them materials they will enjoy reading. The current
over-emphasis on drilling students in reading comprehension "strategies" has the
opposite effect. ~EDs
Flunked FCAT? Another test, such as ACT OR SAT, may get that diploma
http://tinyurl.com/5hjw4t
By Dave Weber
Orlando Sentinel
July 6, 2008
FCAT
third-grade reading law questioned
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/603073.html
By Nirvi Shah and Hannah Sampson
Miami Herald
July 13, 2008
Studies in Dade and
Broward question the effectiveness of mandatory FCAT-based retention of
third-graders. ~EDs
Law aims to declaw FCAT mania
http://tinyurl.com/6ppffk
By Catherine Dolinski
Tampa Tribune
July 20, 2008
"FCAT skeptics say the new policy is a
triumph, in that it acknowledges there is too much focus on the high-stakes
test. But they question how much practical effect the law will have, given the
myriad exceptions that lawmakers built into it."
FCAR member Sherman Dorn is quoted in this article. ~EDs
Former teacher
faces incumbent for School Board
Reddout looking to be re-elected to fourth term
http://tinyurl.com/6oqrnw
By Kelly Mitchell
News Chief [Winter Haven]
July 23, 2008
"There's way too much emphasis put on the FCAT. It shouldn't be used as a
weapon." ~ Brenda Reddout, seeking re-election to the Polk County School
Board
Commentary
10th-grade FCAT scores show problem
with test
Palm Beach Post Editorial
June 14, 2008
In 2001, only 37 percent of Florida 10th-graders could read on grade level.
This year, according to FCAT results released Tuesday, 10th-grade students
reading on grade level had increased to a whopping 38 percent. Give them
credit for scoring 4 points higher than last year's sophomores. But the
overall "gain" since 2001 again calls into question Florida's focus on one
test. The fact that reading gains in other grades over the same period have
been substantial is yet more evidence that something is screwy with the
FCAT.
Blame
FCAT, and then some
http://www.ocala.com/article/20080703/opinion/807030323
Ocala Star-Banner
July 3, 2008.
The Ocala Star-Banner is emerging as
one of the most consistently informed critics of the FCAT. In this
editorial, they explore and expose the effects of depriving students who
score below the magic number on FCAT of electives. ~EDs
Tweaking FCAT
http://tinyurl.com/5zwzlc
New reforms lessen its frenzy, but dumping national comparisons a dubious
move
Florida Today [Melbourne]
July 6, 2008
The once test-obsessed newspaper of
record in Brevard County now calls on lawmakers to "let schools use the
test as more of an assessment tool, less of a hammer." ~EDs
From
empty-skulled illiterates to amazing little Einsteins
http://tinyurl.com/5as52o
Webb Harris, Jr.
Orlando Sentinel
July 11, 2008
An instructor at Seminole Community
College delivers acid-toned predictions about the response to school grades
released last month. ~EDs
Annual FCAT snapshot has usual fuzziness
http://tinyurl.com/68dh9t
Palm Beach Post
July 12, 2008
Getting an Olympic gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics is great. But it's just
not the same as winning gold in traditional gymnastics. Getting an A school
grade based on FCAT results also is great--in a rhythmic gymnastics sort of
way.
Test targets
http://tinyurl.com/6nqgob
By Ron Merritt
Panama City News Herald
July 16, 2008
A Bay County citizen suggests that
what FCAT really measures is the socio-economic status of families. ~EDs
FCAT
unfairly labels kids
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/letters/story/614323.html
Patricia Miller, North Miami Beach
Miami Herald
July 23, 2008
In a pithy letter, a Dade County
citizen speaks out against the ill effects of the school grading system.
~EDs
School Board rebels against FCAT tyranny
http://tinyurl.com/63f5qj
By Fred Grimm
Miami Herald
July 24, 2008
The revolution began at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday. The Broward School Board
refused to kill a charter school. The board said no to the ideologues in
Tallahassee who confuse FCAT decrees with holy Scripture.
Record numbers
of schools receive A's, but something doesn't seem quite right
http://tinyurl.com/6qq8mz
Treasure Coast Palm [Fort Pierce]
July 24, 2008
The TC Palm accuses the state of
"tweaking its aptly titled 'A+' system to artificially elevate grades." ~EDs
FCAT reading test not a fair look at students' abilities
http://tinyurl.com/6fy3uj
Palm Beach Post
By Mary Monroe, Lake Worth
June 28, 2008
A Palm Beach teacher counts the ways that FCAT fails to
make accurate judgments about students' reading ability. ~EDs
New On The FCAR Web Site
"Description and Analysis of the Florida Kindergarten
Readiness Screener (FLKRS) and the Kindergarten Readiness Rate:
Accountability Measures for the Voluntary Prekindergarten Program in the
State of Florida" by Roanne Moreno, Ed.D., Director of the Institute for
Excellence in Early Care and Education, Palm Beach Community College is now
on the FCAR web site at
http://www.fcarweb.org/docs/Florida_Kindergarten_Readiness_Screener.pdf
.
Blogs
Students pass state test, but at what
cost to their education?
http://tinyurl.com/56fqpt
By Regina Brett
Cleveland Plain-Dealer
July 23, 2008
This blog by a Plain-Dealer columnist
is from out-of-state, but we include it here to celebrate the candor of a
principal with principles.
~EDs
Florida's 931
draft social studies standards: half a mile wide and two inches deep
http://www.shermandorn.com/mt/archives/001360.html
By Sherman Dorn
July 17, 2008
Poll
To cast your vote in a St. Petersburg
Times poll on grading schools, use the link below. ~EDs
http://blogs.tampabay.com/schools/2008/07/your-take-on-sc.html
Notable Quotes
"The real reason FCAT scores have gone up is that all teachers now know how
to teach test-taking strategies to their students . . . . Testing used to be
a tool for teachers to determine what students' strengths and weaknesses
were regarding reading comprehension and math computation. We now use it to
diagnose which test-taking strategy we need to spend weeks reteaching.
Therefore, students are doing better on FCAT because they're more practiced
test-takers. It makes little sense to attribute higher test scores to some
innate increase in human intellect due to a complex right-wing political
policy." ~Sarah Lehrmann, Clearwater, in a letter to the editor of the St.
Petersburg Times, June 23, 2008
"Ever since FCAT was implemented, state law has required remediation for students not scoring a 3 or better in reading. In Marion County this year, that was 54 percent of ninth-graders and 64 percent of high school sophomores. In other words, remediation is arguably--and sadly--the most crowded 'elective' in our high schools." ~Ocala Star-Banner editorial, July 3, 2008
"Other parts of the country are allegedly looking to Florida to improve their school systems. Why? Florida is a state with an abominable graduation rate, low per-pupil expenditures, and low teacher salaries. Whoever it is looking at Florida must be lobbyists for FCAT and similar testing programs that pit school against school and teacher against teacher." ~ Richard Bartfay, Port St. Lucie, letter to the editor of Treasure Coast Palm, July 7, 2008
"Education shouldn't be like the Olympics, where
success depends on one supreme effort at just the right time. Through its
system of FCAT-based school grades, the state mistakenly treats education
like that kind of competition. That's not the same as teaching kids how to
think, so they can became medalists in the real world." Palm Beach Post
editorial, July 12, 2008
Telling the Truth about Testing:
A Challenge to Teachers and Parents
Please share your experiences with the
FCAT and help us educate Florida citizens about the ways in which FCAT
cannibalizes the curriculum, hampers creative teaching, penalizes poor
test-takers, traumatizes children, and turns schools into giant test prep
centers. School children across the country are speaking out against test abuse.
Let's stand with them. Because of the repressive atmosphere created by high
stakes testing, we will protect your anonymity if your job is at stake.
Send your items, stories, anecdotes, etc. to Gloria Pipkin at
gpipkin@knology.net or send hard copies to
Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform
Telling the Truth about Testing
310 Michigan Avenue
Lynn Haven, FL 32444-1428
Support FCAR
Support open, broad-based assessment of learning -- contribute to FCAR.
Use PayPal to make secure donations online at https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=marbleface%40bellsouth.net&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD or send a check or money order payable to FCAR to:
Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform
8680 S.E. Eagle Avenue
Hobe Sound, FL 33455
F-TREND is a project of the Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform (www.fcarweb.org).
John L. Perry and Gloria Pipkin, editors
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