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Even Standardisto Orlando Sentinel Thinks FCAT Should Not Be Secret
Our position: Supporters and opponents should realize FCAT needs more accountability.
Supporters of high-stakes tests love the neat, clean way they measure school accountability. Opponents hate the way the tests push all learning into a single box.
Both sides are passionate, so it's no surprise that recent research sponsored by one of the tests' loudest critics -- a teachers union -- finds little good to say about them, just as it's no shock that a researcher from a conservative think tank sings the tests' praises.
Politics aside, controversy over the tests is inevitable because so much rides on them. In Florida and many other states, students now are being promoted or graduated based on their test scores. The trend is part of a needed push to hold schools more accountable.
The day may come when leaders decide to use a second tool, such as grades in core courses, along with test scores. Meanwhile, as important as accountability is, it's way too early to say that the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is not a good way to decide who graduates. For one thing, this year's seniors are the first who must pass it to earn a diploma. No one yet knows how many of those who failed it on their first two tries will succeed on their third, and final, attempt.
What needs most attention now is that FCAT, itself, lacks accountability. The state keeps its questions and answers closely guarded secrets. No independent group has been allowed to examine it beforehand to make sure that it measures what it claims, and no one can check the test afterward to make sure that it didn't contain an error.
That level of secrecy is unacceptable when one wrongly worded question could spell the difference between graduation or not. If the FCAT is to serve as a high-stakes test, Floridians deserve to have a high comfort level about its quality and accuracy.
— Editorial
The FCAT lightning rod
Orlando Sentinel
Jan. 14, 2002
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edped142011403jan14,0,1522206.story?coll=orl%2Dopinion%2Dheadlines
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