It's the FCAT. That's right. A test. For those of you non-Floridians, the schools in Florida receive a letter grade each year based upon the results of the FCAT. That's right. One test "determines" how well a school does. The result? The teachers are pressured into teaching to the test. You may ask: why does that suck? I'll tell you: 5th graders are JUST NOW (that's right IN THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE YEAR) learning HOW TO DIVIDE SINGLE DIGIT NUMBERS. They just finished "reviewing" multiplication. Is it just me or is that sad? I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, but I knew how to do long division, not just single digit division, in 4th grade. These kids are two years behind where they need to be in math. Why? Because division wasn't on the 3rd and 4th grade FCAT tests, so they didn't learn it.
And that's just half of it! These kids don't know how to write. They can't spell, they don't know grammar. Why? Because there are only 2 years, that's right, 2 years where they have a writing portion on the FCAT test: 4th and 8th grade. Those are the only years that writing is taught. Why, because only reading and math are tested every year. That's only 2 out of 5 core subjects (reading, math, social studies, science and language arts) taught each year.
So Florida is passing children on to higher grades because they passed a standardized test that may, or may not, have accurately gauged the child's intelligence level. And the schools are graded on this ONE TEST.
Now, I have nothing against grading schools. I think it is wise to keep the educators, administrators and districts honest in their teachings. It's a good way for teachers to know what is and is not working in the classroom. It's a good way for administrators to know what is and is not working in the school policies and procedures. My problem with Florida is that it all hinges on ONE TEST.
During the recent race for governor down here, one of the candidates said that if we are not afraid to grade our children, we shouldn't be afraid to grade our schools. But I ask you, my devoted reader(s), what teacher passes or fails a student based on ONE TEST? That is asinine. To truly ascertain what a child does and does not know, the teacher gives them multiple forms of assignments, tests and quizzes. Some kids really know the subject matter but always fail on tests. Why? Because they just take tests badly. Other kids are just really good guessers and don't know a thing about division but on a multiple choice test will more often then not guess the right answer. So why do we grade our schools on ONE TEST? Is it because we're just lazy and want to make this whole school grading thing simple? I have no idea. But this is one very good reason why teachers are leaving Florida. I mean seriously, who wants to teach to a test? The children aren't learning anything. They are not receiving the life skills they need: like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; or how to grammatically structure a sentence; or how to spell.
People wonder why we're so far behind the rest of the world in education. I'll tell you. We grade our teachers' effectiveness on one test that is about 2 years behind where the kids need to be in only two out of five core knowledge areas and ignore the rest of their education. We focus on making everyone pass instead of making everyone learn. Education has ceased to be about knowledge and has become nothing more than a score; a meaningless number that is wiped out in a year.
4 comments:
So should the test be better, shold there be more than one test, or should they do away with them altogether?
Oh, and I've missed your blogging...plus, I called you today and left a message. :) Hugs to you! :)
The test, as a test, is OK. What they should do is create other criteria (like Michigan did) to grade their schools on as well. When I was growing up, the MEAP was all the rage, but it was quickly discovered that the MEAP could only tell so much about a child's education. Now, Michigan has created school report cards that list all the areas the State looks at and gives the school a grade. For instance, a school could recieve an "A" in the MEAP (or testing portion) but an "F"in cafeteria food. Which tells you more about the school than a stupid grade from one test.
Thanks for calling! I enjoyed talking to you this weekend! Hugs and even bigger hugs to you!
Well then, you just get on the phone with the Florida govenor and get some changes made then! :)
The whole setup of Florida public schooling is a load of festering horse turds. When you put a school's achievements and funding based entirely on a single test, you are not only setting up the schools for failure, but all of the students that attend those schools! I've seen stats where they say the tests are raising the grade of Florida schools, but they don't tell the story. Like Amy said, these schools are teaching only to the test and neglecting real subjects that our students need to get a handle on the next level in life which is, hopefully, college. As a result, the really glaring stat that always seems to get left out is how these public school students perform in college or even on the SAT/ACT entrance exams. Also, how many of them show real success in colleges outside of the state of Florida? I'll be it's pretty poor.
I recently asked a simple question to my 13 year old nephew who Ben Franklin was. The only answer he could give is that he was on the $100 bill. Gee, I would think that knowing who one of our Founding Fathers was would be something fairly important to know, especially since he is one of the more well-known of them. You know, he also flew that kite with a key on it in a thunderstorm to discover electricity. BUT, they seem to think that doesn't matter in public schools.
I have one more gripe about the public schools here: When do they really go to school? I mean, these kids have more days off than the government. I've never seen so many additional days off for so-called teacher planning in my life! Top that off with this: In Pinellas county, on Wednesdays, all the schools close early, usually around lunch time. On regular school days, they don't even go for full days, by that, I mean the 7-8 hours that we used to growing up. 7 periods + lunch.
My wife and I are working parents and I know I'm not alone when I say this, but, how in the world are parents expected to hold a job when a responsible parent is to take care of their children on all of this time off? Paying for a sitter or day care for the days that a child is out of school plus only being able to work, what would amount to part-time hours, kind of defeats the purpose of having a job since your income is already spent. In this economy, I know of a lot of employers that aren't sympathetic to allowing all that time off so you can care for your children when they are out all the time.
My child is and will continue to attend private school so he can actually learn what is supposed to be taught in school. Yeah, it costs a lot more, but, in the long run, it's really a cheap expense in order to prepare your child for the future and be successful on their own.
Yes, I know that school doesn't teach them everything and it's also the parents' responsibilities to further their learning outside of school hours, but school is where the guts of the learning is supposed to occur. If it doesn't happen there, where should it happen?
All in all, I'm pretty disgusted with the situation and it seems that my comments to gov't types seems to fall on deaf ears as usual. So, I just have to take the responsibility and handle it on my own because I will not subject my son to the failure that is the Florida public school system.
Sorry for the rant, but I just don't see how common sense is left to the wind when it comes to teaching the future that will, eventually, be in charge of this country.
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