Lowering FCAT passing scores will allow 1,000 to graduate (Test discriminates who can't read/add)

CBS-47 Jacksonville, FL ^ | 5-14-03 | AP

[cgk]

Lowering FCAT passing scores will allow 1,000 to graduate

(Tallahassee-AP) -- The lowering of the passing score for seniors who took the F-CAT will allow about one-thousand who originally flunked to go ahead and graduate.

The F-CAT is given in 10th grade but a student who fails can take the test again five more times.

Nearly 14-thousand seniors have not passed the F-CAT, a requirement for grduation.

About 4-thousand of those wouldn't graduate even if they did pass the F-CAT because they don't have the grades or haven't taken all the required courses.

Seniors have another chance to take the F-CAT next month.

The passing score had been 300. But now the state is allowing seniors to graduate if they got 287 or above in reading. In math, 295 or above is good enough to get a diploma.

 

©2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[who knows what evil?]

Thank you for taking the time to post these links. Please kill me now. These are questions children in the first or second grade could answer back in the 50's when EDUCATION held sway in the public schools. A task as simple as shopping or dining out has now been made much more complex by the dumbed-down work force turned loose on society by an uncaring education cartel. It is just going to get worse and worse. G-d have mercy on your children. (My wife and I chose NOT to have kids...we saw this coming AGES ago.)

[who knows what evil?]

Remember, this is the workforce that will be taking care of you in your golden years.

I have guns...these knuckle-draggers will never take me alive. :-)

[LaineyDee]

Remember, this is the workforce that will be taking care of you in your golden years.

Shoot me. Just shoot me now........ Scary, isn't it?

[El Gato]

I never took ANY test allowing me a calculator. "Show Your Work" is forever burned in my brain.

Never took a test in Engineering or Physics I guess? They routinely used calculators, both for tests and homework. In fact my daughters' science teacher required them. ("Fancy" TI graphing calculators no less). There'a whole lot more to math than aritmetic and use of a calculator does not preclude showing your work. It also allows for a harder test, because you can do more steps with the calculator than if you had to work out all the arithmetic longhand.

No calculators when I was in high school or an undergrad, well not any digital ones you could hold in your hand that is. We did have an analog calculator, it was called a "slide rule". :)

[cgk]

The Southern Ocean (Antarctica area) was recognized in 2001 as the 5th ocean, I believe. I'm not sure when this sample test was written... but you are right.

[cgk]

I was referring to never using a calculator in high school, what this thread is about. ;) After that - all bets are off because professors could care less.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Doesn't surprise me. I think I am becoming cynical, indeed.

LOL! Here's a web poll from the Palm Beach Post...this should get a chuckle:
(http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/news/school_grades.html?2188)

Do you support an economic protest againt the weight of the FCAT results?

Yes--41%----205
No---59%----294
Total Votes--499

[neutrino]

Apres moi, les deluge. Education, such as it is, is a joke. College graduates are, in many instances, functionally illiterate. Reading is rare, academic dishonesty endemic - and the trend is getting worse.

Ah, well. I suppose there will be job security for those of us still able to add numbers and comprehend written words.

[k2blader]

I have never before heard, nor do I believe, that "40%" as stated by O'Reilly is the passing score.

Well, the FCAT FAQs says "The passing scores are 287 in reading and 295 in mathematics." But out of how many total points? Given that, the passing percentage would be easy to figure out.

[cgk]

The FL Commisioner of Education (Horne?) was just on Hannity & Colmes discussing this topic. Sean threw the 40% number out there and the commisioner said it was possible to get less than half of the FCAT's questions right and still pass, because they (the q/a's) are all scored differently based on the difficulty of the question.

[cgk]

We're thinking of private schools (faith-based) or homeschooling. It all depends on where we live, also. Homeschooling if we're stuck in CA for any longer than we plan, and private schools if we make it back to PA... My older daughter (6th grade) is in public school and though she is at the top of her class, I chalk it up to her having the ambition to learn, and do well, not her public school education. She's always enjoyed reading and books, which promote literacy and success in other subjects. Comprehension, anyone? ;).

[cgk]

I forgot to answer your question. ;) No, I never took engineering or physics tests in school - highschool or after.

[cgk]

Found This on how the FCAT scores...
It appears to be some kind of incentive tipsheet for teachers so they can make more money? ("IMPORTANT WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR PAYCHECK! " is the page headline).

FCAT Total Scores The scores from the handscoring and machine-scoring are combined to create a student's total score. For FCAT mathematics and reading tests at each grade level, the results are reported on similar total score scales. The lowest possible score is 100, the highest possible score is 500, and the average score is approximately 300. A "total score," or "scale score," of 100 to 500 is assigned to each student to represent achievement on an entire reading test or mathematics test.

[stylin19a]

the more i do research, it depends on what and/or where you were taught geography as to whether 4 or 5 oceans.......it could even boil down to who is teaching it.

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa091500a.htm
so i take it back. sorry.

[John Beresford Tipton]

Thanks but there is nothing to take back.
For many years that large body of water South of the Latitudes of the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn was referred to as the Great Southern Ocean. If you hold a globe so that you are looking down at the South Pole you can see how vast it is. I guess the Geography types gave it a new name.

When I went to school of course there was a lot less Ocean; icecap not melted yet, Dinosaurs just leaving, LOL.

[Atchafalaya]

I thought there was 11.

[IYAS9YAS]

I give small change to get nothing less than quarters back all the time. It's really fun to watch their jaws drop and the vacuous look in their eyes. Problem is, it's not just the kids.

When I was 9 I took a job as a paper boy (back when we had afternoon delivery and it was reasonably safe to do) and a little old lady would always make me count the change back to her. She always was a nice lady and I could tell that when I counted change back to other customers that they appreciated it.

[k2blader]

The lowest possible score is 100, the highest possible score is 500, and the average score is approximately 300.

Thanks, cgk.

Let's see...

287/500 (reading) = 57.4%
295/500 (math) = 59%

So a student can pass with a "D" grade...

[browardchad]

Florida has  the same problems every other school system in the U.S. has  -- and if you think money or higher taxes is the answer, the majority of parents and teachers don't agree.

 

From "Doing the Numbers on Public Schools Adds Up to Zero," by Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal editorial page, May 2, 2003:

 

Public Agenda, a New York-based nonprofit that does opinion surveys on a range of issues, compiled an analysis of a decade of polling on public education, and news reports about the study were eye-catching. Mainly the message was that while accountability matters in the public mind, what really upsets people is the generalized disorderliness in public schools. Having opinions of my own on what caused many schools to shift from being temples of learning to temples for having-fun-with-my-friends, I thought the Public Agenda report, "Where We Are Now," deserved a closer look.

Please join me for a tour of the second circle of hell. George Bush has a plan of action called No Child Left Behind, but if Saddam's weapons of mass destruction were sufficient reason to invade Iraq, he should now send in the Marines to occupy and reconstruct the nation's dysfunctional public schools.

Teachers, principals, parents, employers, college professors and students all have a uniformly low opinion of what's going on in our schools. Unless bracketed, the language here is taken largely from the study's own wording of questions and results:

Some 71% of respondents believe most public-school students do the bare minimum to get by; 83% of teachers say parents who fail to set limits and create structure at home are a serious problem, and 81% think parents who refuse to hold their kids accountable for behavior or academic performance are a serious problem. Of teachers, 43% say they spend more time keeping order than teaching. Instead of more pay (12%), 86% of teachers said they'd rather have a school where student behavior and parental support were better.

Some 61% of African-American parents think inner-city kids should be expected to achieve the same standards as wealthier kids. Priorities: 82% of African-American parents think the biggest priority is raising academic standards; 8% want more focus on diversity and integration. Nearly all parents, 92%, think you should have to pass a standardized test to be promoted -- and, if you fail, you should have to go to summer school or repeat the grade.

Employers who think local public schools are doing a good or excellent job: 42%. Some 59% of college professors rate public schools as fair or poor. Professors who say a high-school diploma means students have learned the basics: 31%.

>>>snip<<<

Only 47% of professors and 41% of employers think public-school graduates have the skills to succeed in the work world. About 74% of employers and professors think public-school graduates' writing skills are fair or poor; same number for grammar and spelling. About 64% say graduates' basic math is fair or poor; 69% of employers feel personal organization is fair or poor.

Only 19% of teachers say parental involvement is strong in their school [parental involvement is one of the established keys to a successful school]; 87% of teachers think parents ought to limit their kids' TV time or should check their homework [clearly the inference is most parents do neither].

>>>snip<<<

Asked why talented teachers quit, school superintendents say: low pay and prestige -- 5%; politics and bureaucracy -- 81%. Sixty-seven percent of principals wish they were able to reward good teachers and remove bad ones [that is, they can't do either now]. Over 80% of principals and superintendents say they have more new mandates and responsibilities than they can handle. Eighty-four percent of superintendents say they spend too much time on special ed., and 50% say they spend too much on legal issues and litigation.