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Thanks to an Education Mentality Focused on FCAT and Benchmark Results, Students Zoom on "Racetrack, " but to Where?
Teri Pinney recently resigned as an assistant principal in a Florida
public high school because of concerns that administrators were pressing staff to take unethical actions to boost test scores. She has become active with the Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform (FCAR)
by Teri Pinney
There is no doubt that assessment is an important part of any
educational system. Valuable test results are used to develop
instructional strategies that help students do better. This should be
the primary reason to test a student in the first place…isn’t it?
Unfortunately, based on recent FCAT and district Benchmark results, it
is not. Instead, we have been subjecting our children to so much
standardized testing, and, in the process, have created a racetrack
mentality in our school systems.
Under "No Child Left Behind," schools must make annual yearly progress.
Thus, we have the stigmatizing school grade list that shows which
schools have come in first, second or last place. Our school officials
will tell you that this is the rationale for so much testing, but in the
process they tax our students with relentless performance pushing.
Curriculum planning is being designed to help students do well on FCAT.
Advanced placement classes, meant to chalk up the tally for annual
yearly progress, are increasingly being offered in schools.
Unfortunately, this leads to less of a focus on the performing arts or
vocational courses.
Teachers are now evaluated on how effective they've been in increasing
their students' reading, math, science, or writing scores. This is
called "accountability," and it's driving teachers to teach to the tests.
To help their child pass all of these tests, parents have resorted to
spending thousands of dollars on special tutoring programs. Some have
ended up sending their child to private schools, where higher-quality
education is not specifically related to standardized testing.
Many of these parents are puzzled: They made it through school when they
were younger. They even graduated and became successful. Yet, they did
not have to through the racetrack system that exists in schools today.
So, why do their children have to go through it?
What parents need to remember is that despite FCAT, their child can be a
success in society. Employers are hiring people based on attitude more
than aptitude. Also, colleges look at SAT or ACT scores, not FCAT or
district Benchmark scores.
Another interesting side note — there are so many successful people who
didn't take FCAT or its equivalent. A surgeon general of the United
States, a New Jersey governor, a senator from Colorado, entrepreneurs
who started million-dollar businesses, athletes, entertainers, bankers,
and so many more all started with a GED! None of these people came in
first, second, or third places in the academic racetrack that we have
now relegated our children to be in.
I believe that misuse or overuse of standardized testing is creating a
maddening race for everybody to that elusive finishing line.
— Teri Pinney
Stuart FL News
2008-06-01
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/jun/01/teri-pinney-thanks-education-mentality-focused-fca
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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