9486 in the collection
FCAT Scores Missing For Local High School Students
Ohanian Comment: The standardized tests are missing and the principal moans, ""It's information that we need to know if our kids are reading at a certain level, if our kids are performing in math at a certain level." Why not ask the teachers? Why not look at 9 years of report cards, not to mention previous standardized test scores?
Take a look at the poll results at the end.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- It's such an important test; you'd think the state Board of Education could keep track of FCAT scores. But last year's ninth graders at Orlando's Edgewater High School have found out the hard way, that's not true.
Their scores from the test they took back in March have apparently been lost. No one seems to know what's happened to the 829 ninth grade FCAT tests and Edgewater's principal is furious. He says hundreds of students are in an educational lurch because of the lost scores.
Edgewater students grab letters, headed home to parents explaining why after five months last year's ninth graders still don't know how they did on the FCAT. The missing scores are a mystery to both Principal Michael Blasewitz and Orange County district administrators.
"I do know that we did what we were supposed to do. I saw the packages myself," explains Dr. Michael Blasewitz. "I know that we sent 95 packages of tests, that was a combination of ninth grade tests and tenth grade tests, to Tallahassee.
"What we were told by the Department of Education is that the ninth grade box was mislabeled and it was sent to Texas instead of Iowa," says OCPS Program Services Director Lee Baldwin.
Administrators say regardless of where the tests were sent, five months is more than enough time to find them, grade them, and get the results to students, especially considering it's the state putting so much importance on the scores.
"It's information that we need to know if our kids are reading at a certain level, if our kids are performing in math at a certain level," says Dr. Blasewitz.
And then there's the issue of Edgewater's overall school grade. Blasewitz says the state graded them excluding the whole ninth grade class and then slapped them with a "C."
"Worst case scenario, we're a 'B', then it comes out with a 'C'. I don't believe it! That overall grade is so important because state dollars are dolled out based on the grade," says Blasewitz.
We called the education folks up in Tallahassee and asked them what's going on. They said they don't know either. A spokesperson said they are checking into it and they'll have more information Monday.
SURVEY
Do you think the state of Florida should get rid of the FCAT?
Yes 76%
No 24%
FCAT Scores Missing For Local High School Students
WFTV.com
2003-08-15
http://www.wftv.com/education/2409072/detail.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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