Posted on 05/16/2012 9:09:37 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
After conceding that poor communication with teachers could have contributed to the unprecedented plunge in Florida students writing scores this year, the state Board of Education voted Tuesday to lower the passing mark for the test.
Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson defended the decision against critics who said it was a quick fix for bad results on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or FCAT. He said changing the tests passing score to a 3 from a 4 (out of 6) corrected the process.
The results still stand, he said.
Just 27 percent of fourth-graders statewide earned a 4 or better on the writing FCAT, a steep decline from last years 81 percent. Eighth- and 10th-graders showed similar drops.
The news sparked widespread concern and a dramatic response, with more than 800 parents, teachers and school officials dialing into an emergency conference call held Tuesday by the state board.
Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said after Tuesdays decision, The State Board of Education should be thanked for taking on this matter in such a direct, forthright manner.
....Switching to a 3 puts scores on par with last years results. Final results for schools and districts could be released by the end of the week, state officials said.
Robinson acknowledged Tuesday that teachers were not adequately prepared for how strictly the tests were going to be graded this year, and said he realized that overnight students didnt just become bad writers.
But Robinson also warned Tuesday that substantial declines were coming for scores on the states high-stakes reading and math tests.
...I can tell you theres going to be a big wake-up moment, Robinson said.
Some state leaders expressed concern about the writing results......
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
“Idiocracy” is becoming a documentary.
Just drop it down to 0 so everybody passes.
"We're gonna take you back, to the year 1939 when Charlie Chaplin and his Nazi regime enslaved Europe and tried to take over the world ...But then an even greater force emerged, the "UN" and the "UN" un-nazied the world - forever."
So that means you only need an AA degree now to be a brain surgeon? Just lower the standards..../sarc tag
FREEGARDS LEX
Why werent the teachers prepared? How could they not be prepared?
Can there be other than right and wrong answers?
Do the students have the skills necessary to perform the work or not? Is there another possible outcome?
Sad, sad, sad. We aren't the only country in the world to do this, either. It's been a tough read to figure out just what "excellent" means, then, now AND in the future.
Just some thoughts.
It’s a comprehensive assessment test.
A test that assesses, comprehensively, the education level that the students currently have.
“Cramming” is not required for an assessment.
The Chinese read articles like this and laugh their asses off at us.
Both my kids get plenty of learning here at home as well and are fairly bright (one is Honor Society), but for kids who lack proper parenting and are left wholly to the 'attention' of the self-serving school administration... I feel sorry for them. They are left to the not-so-tender mercies of a political game for which they are simply pawns.
I SINCERELY hope that you do NOT believe that the Chinese don't fudge THEIR grades, pass the wealthy brats, give breaks to bribing parents and are, in any and many ways, influenced by their commieculturebosses to SUCCEED, SUCCEED, SUCCEED.
The Chinese actually might be worse. FACE is ultra, super important to them, individually and collectively. They are one of the OLDER cultures of our planet. They have had THAT long to finesse and cultivate the cheat.
Chinese not cheat? BWWWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Same rwst, different asnwers.
The pooblic skool collective answer.
Fire’ em, then sell off the buildings.
Not saying they don’t cheat, but I don’t think they worry too much about their student’s “self esteem”.
“realized that overnight students didnt just become bad writers. “
Appallingly accurate.
The pooblic skool collective workers (teachers) and their overlords (administrators) have labored for generations to achieve such depths of FAIL.
The typical Florida school district is spending about $15,000 per year per pupil and at the end of the day is graduating a bunch of incompetent individuals.
Conservatives need to focus on winning School Board elections and get rid of the teacher unions and the entrenched bureaucracy.
You are right. I don't think that they care an iota about their students' self-esteem. Boys are prized; girls are discarded. Self-esteem doesn't fit into the Chinese twin-deity of "god," that is: LUCK and MONEY.
The Chinese now have an entire generation of men who are not married. The Chinese have aborted girl babies so much for so long that there now exists a group of men, called "bare branches." There ARE NO women for these men. They aren't the males with enough money, brains, family clout or looks to attract any women.
The DOWN side of amniocentesis.
And they are doing it right here in our own back yard = N.Y. But now it’s something far worse than Nasism, it’s called Marxism, (that has always failed where tried) by the stepping stones of Socialism. It’s a wrong picture, it should show the criminal now “occupying” the W.H.!!!
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