Editorials
FCAT writing test is failing all of Florida
Highlands Today
Published: May 16, 2012
No matter how you look at it, consider it, analyze it, measure it or do anything else, the new FCAT writing tests are a complete failure.Published: May 16, 2012
That's proven by the plunging scores that resulted after the state changed the requirements and grading. The dismal results have resulted in emergency meetings at the highest education levels on how to deal with it.
Writing assessments dropped from 81 percent success rates to 27 percent success rates in fourth grade with this new system.
That either means all of a sudden our children lost all ability to pass the test, or the way the state is using it is an absolute failure. We're sure it's the latter.
Other age groups fared almost as badly as the fourth graders on the test. Everyone expected a drop, but nothing this drastic.
According to a News Service of Florida story, education officials blame the plummeting scores on several factors. Failing schools are required to use costly remedies to get scores up.
The past couple of years the tests were scored by two different people. Much more attention was paid to punctuation, capitalization and grammar. Plus, the pool of people taking the test included much poorer performing students.
Now state officials are giving all kinds of lame excuses as to what happened. All any of us know for sure is that they messed up. There's no way student scores should drop that low from a year ago without a major malfunction somewhere.
We accept that standardized testing is required, and possibly even effective on some levels, but the drama and stress these failed testing systems produce is counterproductive. Our teachers are working their hardest to help students be successful.
The poor construction of these tests and how they're graded, along with the weight put on them by legislators who don't know the first thing about educating children, have rendered them failures.
Let's hope education leaders find a solution. Clearly they've figured out how to make a mess of it.