|
|
9486 in the collection
Gov. Bush's Positive Spin on FCAT--Intended to Help Pres. Bush's Reelection Drive?
TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush spent Wednesday trying to convince Floridians that the FCAT -- both reviled and revered -- was fixing education in the Sunshine State.
In a standing-room-only press conference, he paraded up principals who turned around failing schools and surrounded himself with huge colorful charts showing how many schools got A's: 1,230 statewide and 48 percent of the total number of Florida schools that received grades.
He didn't hide the F schools but dwelled on the fact that there were just 35, down 29 from last year, all evidence that pointed to success.
The boasting went on for an hour because some say it was meant to reach a larger audience: the nation.
With just 16 months until the presidential election and the state still queasy from the 2000 fiasco, success with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test could give Bush's brother, President George W. Bush, an edge on the competition.
Good feelings about better schools can never hurt.
"I think the governor will be able to parlay the FCAT into a positive for his brother," said Doug Wiles, Democratic Party leader in the Florida House. "There is a major effort every time something good happens in Florida to advertise it locally and nationally. But is it all just window dressing?"
Bush is facing increasing opposition to the FCAT from an unusual alliance: Hispanic Republicans, who typically have given strong support for both Bush brothers, and black Democrats.
Until now, FCAT foes have raised only a murmur of revolt statewide with parents, who may have given only peripheral attention to the complicated scoring system.
But for the first time this year, students are failing not just the test but also entire grades because of the FCAT, and parents aren't ignoring it anymore. Third-graders, 43,000 statewide, are in danger of not making it to the fourth grade after failing the reading portion of the test. About 13,000 seniors couldn't pass the exam -- a roadblock to a diploma and hence higher education or even entry level work.
A law created last week will allow an estimated 450 seniors who didn't pass the test to go ahead and earn their high school diploma if they received equivalent passing scores on other standardized tests.
Also this year, a concession was made to allow disabled students more leeway in taking or waiving the test -- a move contrary to President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act that says all students will be performing to high standards by 2014.
Gov. Bush said Friday when he signed the the most recent FCAT bill into law that it doesn't weaken FCAT standards at all, but others say it is a sign that cracks are starting to show in what once was considered a bulletproof education plan.
Some question the legitimacy of Bush's A-Plus plan, which gives a school such as U.B. Kinsey Elementary in West Palm Beach a B grade even though 50 percent of students couldn't pass the reading portion of the test.
With thousands of angry parents statewide, FCAT opponents say the exam will only hurt the Bush family's political plans, which may include a 2008 presidential bid by Jeb Bush.
Both Bush brothers made education one of their strongest campaign issues. George W. Bush rode his Texas testing program into the White House, but just this year, the Lone Star State had to lower testing standards to avoid failing large numbers of students under the No Child Left Behind Act and subjecting schools to federal penalties.
Still, Jeb Bush remains undaunted by the increased struggle between keeping his original lofty goals and succumbing to rising political pressure.
"I've never really worried about political implications of good policy," he said. "It's the right thing to do. We have rising student achievement because the tests are measuring how students are doing. That's a plan that's working."
Fifth year of improvement
When Bush took office in January 1999, the groundwork for the FCAT was in place under the 1991 approval of "Blueprint 2000."
Bush took the blueprint and made it his A-Plus plan, grading schools on an A through F scale and adding teeth to the test by allowing students in chronically failing schools to use public tax dollars to attend private or parochial schools.
The voucher program, which is being challenged in court, gave about 500 students statewide tax dollars to attend private schools last year.
An estimated 13,700 students in nine failing schools will be eligible for vouchers this year.
Overall, however, there was academic improvement for the fifth straight year based on state measures.
Since 1999, the number of schools earning A's has risen from 202 to 1,230. The number of schools earning B's went from 313 in 1999 to 569.
That means 71 percent of Florida's schools earned either an A or a B this year.
"I'm so sick and tired of hearing over and over again that kids can't learn, that family structure and income determine everything. That's simply not true," Bush said during his unveiling of the grades last week. "Schools across our state continue to improve."
Scoring falls under scrutiny
But many people are beginning to question the validity of the FCAT scoring system.
Probably most troubling to opponents is how schools can get grades of C or better when a majority of students don't perform on grade level.
That happens because schools are graded partly based on improvement. So if an F-graded school increases scores, it will be rewarded even if students are still underachieving.
It happened this year at West Riviera Elementary School in Riviera Beach, which went from an F to a C but still has just 32 percent of its students reading on grade level. Just 16 percent of West Riviera's third-graders passed in reading.
Belvedere Elementary School in West Palm Beach earned an A this year, but 45 percent of its students don't read on grade level.
A report Friday from the National Center for Education Statistics showed improvement in Florida's reading scores but revealed that students still lag behind their peers nationally.
In Florida, 27 percent of fourth-graders performed at or above grade level in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, compared with 22 percent four years ago. The national average was 30 percent. Among eighth-graders, 29 percent were proficient or above, compared with 23 percent four years ago. The national average was 31 percent for eighth-graders.
"I do think there have been improvements in learning, and we should celebrate that, but every year there are different standards," Wiles said. "There seems to be a lot of ways to cook the books."
FCAT supporters maintain the test is a good measure.
"In poll after poll, parents, voters, taxpayers and opinion leaders have said they support testing because it provides them with some assurance that schools are effectively teaching and students are successfully learning," said Charles Garcia, a State Board of Education member who lives in Boca Raton. "Educators have been less staunch in their support. They generally agree with raising academic standards, but their support has begun to waver as real accountability measures have been put in place."
Critics demand revisions
It's not just educators who are wavering in their support.
Last week, Republican Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla of Miami sponsored a successful bill with Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, that allows high school seniors to take alternative tests to the FCAT to earn a diploma for this year only. It also allows seniors who did not pass the FCAT to go onto a community college, something they couldn't do before without a diploma or a GED. The bill was sponsored in the House by Republican Rep. John Quinones of Kissimmee.
Wilson, who wants radical changes in the A-Plus plan, including removing the requirement that third-graders pass the FCAT to go on to fourth grade, has helped organize protests and meetings throughout the state in the past two months.
She said Bush's touting of the FCAT is misguided and that ultimately it will hurt him politically.
"It is really counterproductive," Wilson said. "The governor might put his own spin on education, but I hope the people of Florida don't believe it."
Diaz de la Portilla said he's still an FCAT supporter but knows it needs tweaking, especially for students still learning to speak English.
He denies that his bill was politically motivated, although thousands of FCAT protesters rallied in Miami in May and are threatening a boycott of Florida citrus products and theme parks. Another protest supported by Wilson was held Friday outside the Miami-Dade School District headquarters.
Diaz de la Portilla said Bush, who signed the bill into law on Friday, was a "recent" supporter of using alternative assessments to the FCAT to allow students to earn their diplomas.
"The governor does not want to admit there are flaws," Diaz de la Portilla said.
Bush has enjoyed wide support from Republican Hispanics in South Florida, especially the politically active Cuban community.
Across the nation, states that have implemented high-stakes testing tied to accountability measures have begun backtracking on their efforts because of political pressure and mounting concerns from ethnic minority groups who don't speak English as a native language or feel the test is culturally biased. This month, California is expected to delay its high school exit exam, which would require students to pass to earn a diploma.
Garcia, a Republican whom Bush appointed to the Board of Education, is now afraid Florida will follow in other states' footsteps.
Watching what happened last week in the Florida Legislature with the FCAT bill, he said the weakening of the FCAT may have started. Despite his board's vote to forbid students to use different tests to earn a high school diploma, legislators did just that Thursday. Their vote trumps the one Garcia's board made.
"I would argue that we need more testing and higher cut scores," Garcia said. "We need to challenge districts to measure student achievement more often in order to ensure that students are progressing on a path to proficiency."
But more changes in the FCAT and the A-Plus plan are likely.
The Senate has ordered a study of the exam and its effects on students. It's due in February, just before the next legislative session and nine months before the presidential election. The report is expected to include recommendations on whether to continue to allow the use of alternative tests to earn a diploma.
"We are coming back next year, and we will address the problems with the FCAT," Diaz de la Portilla said. "This will not go away."
— Kimberly Miller
FCAT Could Be Political
St. Petersburg Times
June 22, 2003
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/sunday/news_e35f822543a4119400a2.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
|
