My Single Mom Life

Critics say that the FCAT fix is flawed.
You don't say?

Last spring, Florida lawmakers sought to ease the pressure the FCAT applied on public high schools by developing a more rounded appraisal of student performance. But those good intentions may end up putting more schools in the "needs improvement" category.

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The results: Dozens of schools would drop a letter grade on the state's report card and the number of "failing" schools would double. In Hillsborough alone, one simulation shows nine high schools would fall a letter grade, with one of them, Leto High, getting an F. Only one would improve - Armwood High School, which would rise from D to C.

While some of the state's original data is old - Leto has since boosted its grade to a C - Hillsborough schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia says the new assessment adds a financial burden for districts forced to cut millions. Previously, the only standard measure of a high school's success was the FCAT. The new grading formula calls for additional measures, such as graduation rates, advanced placement courses and college-placement tests. Bringing all that together costs money, Elia said, and the Hillsborough district, for one, is preparing to cut as much as $55 million this fiscal year. And a failing grade from the state may force a school to develop a costly improvement plan.

The emphasis on the FCAT needs to be cut, it's so much pressure on students and teachers alike. The teachers know that their schools grade and money for the school, comes from how well the students do on the FCAT, so the teachers spend a crazy amount of time teaching the students how to pass the test, instead of teach the subjects students really need to know in order to do well at college.

On one of the news programs, either Dateline or 20/20, a few months ago, they talked and followed students at several different high schools across the country who all had testing like the FCAT.
Most of the students they followed did very well in school, they were top of their classes, high honors, straight A students who consistently passed with great grades, the comprehensive testing every year, but when they got to college, the work was way too hard, it was subjects they had never done before, they found out when they went to college, that there were courses they should have taken in high school, their guidance counselors told them they were taking every single course they needed to be taking to get into college, so these kids thought they were well prepared.
But they weren't.
One straight A, high honor roll, valedictorian student they spoke to, said when she got to college, she totally floundered, she discovered that she should have been taking 6 other courses in high school that were available to her, but the guidance counselor and teachers had told her she was already taking everything she needed, that she was a straight A student, that she'd be just fine in college, but she wasn't.
She failed every single class she was enrolled in, and ended up having to drop from her chosen classes to all general courses, and she had to take all 6 of those extra classes that she should have taken in high school, in order to just try and catch up to where she should have been.
She was so upset with herself, she said she felt like a total failure, felt stupid because the work was so much harder, she wasn't as prepared as her teachers and guidance counselor told her she was, and she also blamed the comprehensive tests she had taken throughout school.
On top of all of her college prep classes she was taking, thinking those were going to be enough, she was also constantly studying to pass her states comprehensive tests every year because they counted so much towards her ability to get into the college of her choice.
She said her teachers had the students take practice tests 5 days a week, they were always going over those tests and questions, and she thought she knew what she needed, she thought she was well prepared, but she was nowhere near prepared for college at all.

The FCAT is not a good way to help the students at all.
It helps the schools get money, but the teachers spend so much time prepping students for those tests that they don't spend enough time teaching the students what they really need to know in order to be well prepared for college.

I know the schools need money, but our students educations should always come first.
They should place way less emphasis on the FCAT, heck, do away with it completely, and start teaching the students what they really need to know in order to prepare them for college and beyond.
They can't teach all of the college prep classes because they are spending far too much time prepping students to pass the FCAT so the schools get a passing grade and more money.