FCAT failures: Testing is not teaching

By Weekly Archive On May 23, 2012

By Dan Gelber

Notwithstanding the recent Herald editorial, the latest debacle over FCAT writing scores was much more than an administrative miscue in grading by the state Department of Education. The DOE announcement that over 70 percent of Florida students failed the newly calibrated writing FCAT means either our school system has horrible problems teaching basic skills, or DOE is filled with idiots.

Either way, Floridians – especially parents of public school children – need to be asking questions and demanding change. First, recognize that the department implemented the more rigorous grading method because, according to their own experts, the test had been graded “leniently” for years. But when they adjusted the test almost every kid who took it failed. So the DOE convened an emergency public meeting and, like the Wizard of Oz, simply declared to the land that the passing score would be lower, thus allowing more kids to appear to have passed.

While this did mollify the public and politicians, if your kid was one of those children who took the test (and mine was) you have to wonder what the heck is going on. Is the state’s accountability system screwed up – or is it just accurately measuring the fact that our students just don’t know basic skills? The excuse presented, and apparently believed by many FCAT enthusiasts, was that the school system did not have adequate time to prepare for the new standards. Since the “new standards” were basic grammar and punctuation, Floridians should wonder why they needed to prepare at all.

This episode also makes you wonder of what value are the state’s assessment instruments and school grades if the powers-that-be will simply lower the bar if our kids seem unable to reach it.

This fiasco should force Floridians to take a closer look at the path Florida has staked out when it comes to testing our children. To put it simply, Florida’s overemphasis on testing is insane. We have become a school system whose entire purpose seems to be to prepare kids for minimal competence tests. Education Week ranks Florida as having more tests and measurements than nearly any other state. Any teacher will tell you they spend more time measuring achievement than actually promoting it.

Also, Florida made a huge mistake when it adopted a grading instrument that only measures how well schools move kids to minimal competence in a few subjects. While parents love to hear their school is an “A” school, all that means is that their school is more successful in moving children to grade level in a couple basic subjects. Is that really all you wanted for your kids? It also means that courses not covered by the FCAT – history, foreign languages, high level math and English, art, music – don’t matter and are, therefore, terribly neglected. That is especially so when the governor and legislature insist on cutting already anemic school funding.

Testing is not teaching, and Florida’s singular reliance on the FCAT as its organizing principle is proving you get what you pay for. Our high school graduation rate is abysmal, our ACT and SAT scores of seniors are among the worst in the nation, and half our graduating seniors need remediation in college. Florida is proving the adage that weighing a malnourished dog every day won’t improve its health. And if you think the FCAT is overemphasized now, wait until teacher salaries and job security are indexed to it.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Other states – like New York’s Regents exams – don’t overemphasize tests but, rather, measure minimal and maximum performance in many subject areas. Public school students motivated in New York to perform exceptionally on their exams become “Regents Scholars.” That accomplishment has great cachet with college admission departments. Ever heard of an FCAT Scholar?

Florida seems to have decided that since we spend so little on public education we will establish a low-water mark for success and declare victory when we reach it. Or in this case, artificially move the bar to wherever the optics demand. That plays a cruel trick on children left unprepared. It diminishes a workforce that already can’t seem to attract high-wage, knowledge-based industries.

Florida polticians need to accept that the FCAT is not a solution; it is simply a test. They need to let go of this failed premise that you can demand more out of a school system without paying for it. Most of all, they need to stop spending more time declaring success than actually achieving it.

Dan Gelber is a former state senator from Miami Beach.