It May Be Time To Rethink The FCAT

Published: Aug 24, 2007

It's time to revise, if not walk away from, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test as the sole basis of education accountability.

We have constructed a system that seeks and rewards mediocrity at the expense of true achievement. Today, a school receives a grade based almost entirely on how many children have reached minimal competence on the FCAT in reading and math (science was just added this year). Nearly nothing else is part of the grade. This makes no sense. How many parents only care about whether their child is minimally competent in a couple of subjects? If you ask parents what they look for, it's usually good student-teacher ratios, talented and credentialed teachers, a safe learning environment and a curriculum that challenges and brings out the best in kids. Amazingly, none of these are measured in Florida's school grades.

Here is how we can reach meaningful accountability.

First, for all grades we should include other measurements that are important. Non-FCAT subjects like civics and social studies and advanced coursework should be included in school grades. How well does a school deliver enrichment, bilingual and gifted programs? Does an elementary school offer art and music and comply with the state's physical education requirements? What is a high school's college placement rate? Why not give parents and communities a full snapshot of their school and of their child? Don't just measure how well a school reaches the low watermark in a few things, but consider how well it performs in all the ways that matter. Factors should be given their due weight - academic subjects ought to be more important than enrichments. And an important caveat is that we can't give teachers more paperwork. Fortunately, most of these factors come from data that is already collected from teachers and administrators.

I believe we have to scrap the FCAT as the accountability instrument for middle and high school and replace it with various indexes, the most important of which would be "end of course" exams.

Rather than give a one-size-fits-all, pass-fail exam that determines whether students are minimally competent in math or reading, end of course exams determine if a student has passed a particular subject at a minimal level or at an exceptional level. So rather than a school-wide math FCAT test, students would get a math exam that measures remedial and high level math.

In New York, a student that receives a 65 percent is considered passing, but an 85 percent means you pass with distinction. If you fail an exam, you have to take remedial coursework so that you can pass it over the summer or the next year. If you are a motivated student and pass your tests with distinction, you graduate with an enhanced degree. Maybe the kind of degree that comes with a scholarship or entry into one of the state's universities.

For too long our state's accountability system has been akin to shooting an arrow into a wall and then drawing the bulls-eye around it. It's time we recognized that a true accountability system must measure and reward more than mediocrity.

Dan Gelber is the Democratic leader of the Florida House of Representatives.