9486 in the collection
Test should inform, not drive education
Maybe we should all thank McGraw-Hill for their errors. Maybe we should pray they make more.
Editorial
OUR OPINION: GOVERNOR, EDUCATION BOARD SHOULD RETHINK FCAT'S ROLE
Newly discovered errors in tallying last year's FCAT scores heighten long-held concerns about high-stakes testing. Yes, Florida's teachers, schools and school districts must be held accountable for teaching children to read, write, count and think. Yet the errors call attention to the FCAT's critical role as the single most-defining measurement of success or failure for students, schools and entire schools districts. Is that right? We think not.
The FCAT today is used to determine who graduates from high school, who is retained and which teachers and schools get bonuses. So much rides on this one test that school priorities begin with the FCAT.
Pressure on students
Parents, students and teachers all have complained. Some educators feel compelled to teach to the test at the expense of social studies, languages, arts or other nontested subjects. The pressure turns children into nervous wrecks. Student performance should be the sum of their classroom tests, participation, homework and other efforts -- not how well they do in one test.
On Wednesday, state education officials said that some scores on last year's FCAT were wrong. Third-grade reading scores, which were believed to represent a record improvement, had been inflated by a testing error.
As a result, 200,000 tests now must be regraded. School bonuses intended to reward top-performing and most-improved schools were skewed. And thousands of underperforming students weren't offered extra help, such as free tutoring or summer school. Instead, they were promoted to fourth grade when they otherwise would have been retained.
It also is disturbing that no one in the state Department of Education or CTB/McGraw Hill, the FCAT contractor, caught the test error earlier. Red flags were raised only after this year's third-grade reading scores came in below last year's scores. Where were the accountability measures for the FCAT?
This isn't the first time FCAT scores have been questioned. Last year CTB/McGraw Hill began verifying test-grader credentials only after the DOE admitted that some of the graders lacked the college degrees required for the job.
Performance indicators
Standardized tests are valuable tools. They can identify specific areas where students and schools need help. They can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses. They are valuable indicators of performance over time. But no one test score should stand for the entire performance of a student or school.
The FCAT fiasco should give Gov. Charlie Crist and the DOE cause to rethink the primary role of the FCAT in Florida education. The state has to give educators more tools to measure success in the classroom.
— Editorial Board
Miami Herald
2007-05-30
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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