9486 in the collection
FCAT overhaul past due
We can hope that more media begin using the adjective "supposedly" to modify "standardized tests."
Editorial
It took the state Department of Education a whole year to notice that something was seriously wrong with the 2006 FCAT. The delay was due at least in part to a worship-the-FCAT mentality ingrained during the eight years of Gov. Jeb Bush.
Given that legacy, the task force that last week began a review of the FCAT was right to decide that its examination should go well beyond the narrow question of what went wrong in 2006.
In 2005, 67 percent of third-graders passed the FCAT reading test. In 2006, the percentage leapt to 75 percent. No one saw a problem. Obviously, the steep increase was the result of Gov. Bush's marvelous, infallible accountability system. It wasn't until spring 2007, when the third-grade passing rate dropped to 68 percent, that the department - under heavy criticism from districts statewide - admitted that something was wrong.
The nature of that "something" provides insight into how easily things can go awry in the complex world of supposedly standardized tests. A special group of reading questions appears on the test each year, to help ensure that the tests are equally difficult. In 2006, that group of questions came earlier in the test than it did in 2005 and 2007. Just shifting those questions to a point in the test when students were fresher inflated the 2006 scores.
Experts inside the department and independent consultants both missed the problem when the 2006 FCAT was approved. Now, the FCAT External Advisory Group, which had its first meeting June 1, wants to know what else has been missed over the years.
The state's need to look for such overt blunders is important. But the state needs to search for other possible problems. For example, FCAT reading scores drop in middle school, then fall off a cliff in high school. Is that a problem in the education system or in the way the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is calibrated?
Making sure that the FCAT is a valid measure of skills is important. Equally important is a review of the politics that have placed so much weight on the FCAT. Failing scores can keep third-graders from being promoted and prevent high-schoolers who have passed all their classes from graduating with a diploma. Without those penalties, a glitch in the FCAT is just a glitch in the FCAT; with them, a glitch becomes an injustice for the individual.
The task force also should examine school grades that, because they rely on the FCAT, are thoroughly messed up in the wake of the 2006 mistake. Grades determine school bonuses as well as eligibility for vouchers, transfers and tutoring. But grading formulas can change from year to year, which raises the likelihood of political manipulation.
Fixing the FCAT is good policy. But to fix the FCAT, the state will have to overhaul FCAT policy.
— Editorial
Palm Beach Post
2007-06-09
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