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Theater of the Absurd: Florida Dumps Last-Minute Funds Into Test Prep
TAMPA - Yearbook pictures are back, and caps and gowns are ordered, but a giant hurdle remains for thousands of high school seniors across Florida.
Unlike most of their classmates, they have not yet passed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to get a diploma.
And because they won't learn until May their scores from retaking the FCAT in March, the next few weeks of test preparation are critical.
``We had to step it up,'' said Pat Smith, Hillsborough County's school guidance supervisor. ``The main thing we're doing is encouraging students not to give up.''
It's also a critical time for the FCAT politically. State education officials have predicted a lawsuit after the first diplomas are denied for not passing the test. And the government is pushing for ways to prevent too many teens from failing.
For example, most people familiar with the FCAT consider it a timed test. But Cornelia Orr, the state Education Department's kindergarten through grade 12 assessment director, said that's not necessarily the case for all who must retake it.
``We have encouraged schools to give them as much time as they want,'' Orr said. ``I can't say that has been universally applied.''
The state also provided some help in late December, when it diverted $4.5 million in federal money to help students with disabilities who haven't passed the FCAT.
At the school district level, Hillsborough just spent about $400,000 from its own budget for equipment and software for day and night test prep labs at five high schools, said MaryEllen Elia, Hillsborough's general director of secondary education.
By this week, families of as many as 900 Hillsborough seniors ``in position to graduate'' except for their FCAT scores should have received certified letters reminding them of that hurdle, Elia said.
The local seniors are among 12,772 in Florida who need higher reading scores and 9,933 who need higher math scores before their scheduled graduations. Those numbers include some who need higher scores on both parts of the test.
A few may be fairly new to the state or its public school system and have taken the test only once. But most have failed one or both portions of the FCAT after several tries since 10th grade.
Ironically, some are students whose grades and college entrance exam scores are good enough to qualify them for a state college scholarship, yet they still must pass the FCAT to get a regular high school diploma.
Hillsborough officials discovered that contrast last year, when they matched up scores and found 60 students who failed the FCAT but did well enough on the Scholastic Assessment Test, the college entrance exam, to meet requirements of a Florida Gold Seal scholarship, said John Hilderbrand, the district's assessment director.
Hilderbrand has not done such a comparison since the October FCAT retest, but he said he's certain some of those students still have not passed.
Without a diploma, a public high school student cannot enter the state higher education system. Options include a diploma earned by taking the General Educational Development test or private school diploma, neither of which requires passing the FCAT.
Affected Students
Stephanie Smith, a senior at East Bay High in Gibsonton, is one of those sweating it out.
The B student has her eye on a softball scholarship at a state school, followed by a medical career. But though she passed the FCAT math portion, she missed a passing reading score by six points in October. She's enrolled in a special East Bay FCAT reading class.
``It's hard,'' she said. ``We have 33 in the class right now.''
At East Bay, 70 of the 375 seniors haven't passed at least one portion of the test, said Assistant Principal Sharon Morris. Most have given up elective classes during the day to take intensive FCAT reading or math classes, she said.
The school also is one of the five that received the new FCAT preparation lab equipment from the district. East Bay got 30 computers with special software and added Saturday and evening classes available to students from across the county.
``It's more fun to learn that way,'' student Kassy Phillips said of the Plato computer program. She moved to Ruskin about a year ago from New York, where her reading learning disability allowed her to have regular classroom and test material read to her. With extra time granted on the FCAT, she passed reading in October but was three points shy on math, a subject she prefers.
``She'll take it until she passes it,'' said her mother, Susan Phillips. ``She'll get her diploma. All my children have high school diplomas.''
Most of Phillips' other six living children have gone on to college, she said. She called the FCAT ``frustrating'' but said, ``I think some kind of test is good.''
Still In The Ceremony
Other East Bay seniors taking the FCAT classes help illustrate the cross section of students in limbo about their diplomas.
Ryan Sweeney, who earns A's and B's, plans to join the Army and work with machinery. Like others still trying to pass the test, officials said, he'll be able to walk in his school graduation ceremony regardless of his performance. A certificate of completion is available that can be traded for a diploma once the test is passed.
FCAT takers can keep trying in June or even later, after they've left high school.
Nicholas Baron, whose interests include singing with a speed metal band, said he doesn't care about the graduation ceremony: ``I don't believe in that sort of stuff.'' But he wants a diploma because he hopes to study acupuncture.
Some test-prep teachers have strong feelings about the subject as well.
Tom Fillion, who teaches an intensive math prep class at Robinson High, points out that this year's seniors have the disadvantage of not having been involved in the state's more rigorous testing program, which developed after their early schooling.
``They're very resentful,'' Fillion said. ``The school district is trying to help them. There is no doubt about that. Some kids just can't grasp some of this stuff. They could study until doomsday and still not pass.
``I like the idea there's a test. When it stands in the way of them getting their high school diploma, I'm not sure of that.''
— Marilyn Brown
For Thousands Of Teens, FCAT Stands As Final Test
Tampa Tribune
Feb. 3, 2003
http://www.tampatrib.com/MGAISW2ERBD.html
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