Posted on 05/23/2002 4:02:37 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Passing the FCAT is one of several graduation requirements, including a minimum qualifying grade point average and community service. Tenth-graders who fail the FCAT are offered extra tutoring and can retake the test at least five times before their graduation date. ''It's not like all these kids don't get high school diplomas,'' Toural said.
More than half the 10th-graders in Miami-Dade County and about 40 percent in Broward County failed to meet the state's tougher new graduation standards on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and will have to retake the test.
About 13,600 sophomores in Miami-Dade and 5,500 in Broward failed the reading and/or math sections of the FCAT this year. Last year, about 10,400 in Miami-Dade and 4,200 in Broward flunked.
''The failure rate is scary,'' said Mercedes Toural, associate superintendent for education in Miami-Dade schools, the nation's fourth-largest school district. ``It's disheartening for the kids and teachers who work so hard. We would like our kids to do well.''
Passing the FCAT is one of several graduation requirements, including a minimum qualifying grade point average and community service. Tenth-graders who fail the FCAT are offered extra tutoring and can retake the test at least five times before their graduation date.
''It's not like all these kids don't get high school diplomas,'' Toural said.
In October, about a third of the 11th-graders in Miami-Dade and about half in Broward passed the test on their second try.
Officials in both districts said that while the state's raised graduation standards were a major factor in the high number of failures, they can't identify other reasons until the state releases individual student scores in a couple of weeks. School average scores were released last week.
''This is a totally different group of kids from last year, and every group looks different,'' said Anne Dilgen, director of student assessment for Broward schools. ``We haven't been able to analyze the changes from this year to last. We need to wait for more drilled-down data.''
This year, high school sophomores have to earn 300 of 500 possible points in reading and math to qualify for a state diploma. Last year, students needed 287 in reading and 295 in math. The state recently decided not to apply this year's higher standards to 11th-graders retaking the test.
Students who fail to pass receive only a ''certificate of completion'' at graduation.
Student scores on math and reading -- along with writing, which doesn't apply toward the graduation requirement -- will determine the school performance grades that the state plans to release in mid-June.
The FCAT replaced the less difficult High School Competency Test as a graduation requirement last year. The old exam, used since 1976, tested basic knowledge while the FCAT tests higher-order critical thinking and problem solving.
''The FCAT is significantly more difficult,'' said Natalie Roca, executive director of student assessment and educational testing in Miami-Dade. ``Students now have to meet a more rigorous standard than previous classmates.''
Still, attaining the new FCAT minimums show only that students have ''limited success with the challenging content.'' Former Education Commissioner Tom Gallagher, now the state insurance commissioner, once called the FCAT minimums ''embarrassing'' and suggested raising them to 315 for math and 327 for reading.
As in years past, sophomores in Miami-Dade failed the FCAT at a much higher rate than other students in the state.
This year, 56 percent of the 24,300 10th-graders in Miami-Dade failed the reading section and 42 percent failed math. In Broward, about 40 percent of the 13,800 10th-graders failed reading and 28 percent failed math, mirroring state averages.
Miami-Dade wasn't alone in struggling with the new tougher standards. Thousands more 10th-graders across the state failed this year than last year.
The state has not yet released the exact number of students who failed at least one section of the test, so it is unclear how many South Florida sophomores will need to retake the test.
Miami-Dade school officials said the county's high poverty rate and large population of students still learning English factored into its high failure rate.
''We have bright kids who are new arrivals who really study and pass courses and have a good GPA,'' Toural said. ``But it's another thing to sit down and take a test designed for speakers of English. That's like you and I taking a test in German.''
Though specific breakdowns by race are not yet available, the higher graduation standards are expected to particularly impact minority students, officials said.
''We don't want to ask [that] standards be watered down for minorities, because there's a danger in that,'' Toural said. ``So how do you balance high standards for all with the special needs of minorities? That's the challenge our teachers face every day.''
Obviously their grades do not reflect knowledge learned. The basics must be put up front while community service,
along with sex ed and environmental studies, should be squeezed out.
Miami-Dade school officials said the county's high poverty rate and large population of students still learning English factored into its high failure rate.
Dump bilingual education and teach English.
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News starting to sink in: Many students won't pass***This week's release of scores for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test brought home the hard fact that principals, teachers and many parents have known for weeks: More children than ever will be forced to repeat fourth-grade this year, unless they slip through loopholes that allow them to be promoted.
Although students won't receive their FCAT scores until later this month, school officials have spent weeks and months breaking the news to parents. They have pored over student records, sent letters and met with families.
At Richmond Heights Elementary in southwest Orlando, Principal June Jones scheduled 83 meetings to talk about students who might have to repeat a grade. Some parents showed up, some didn't.
Some parents had no idea their children were having problems with reading. ***
I homeschool my son (age 14), but I still have him participate in community service. He volunteers at the YMCA. I think it helps him to take responsibility and be accountable to other adults just like he would be on a job. Plus it fills some of his free time with constructive activity.
This is clear proof that someone is playing 'experiments' with OPC (other people's children). Is this education manipulation a lot less harmfull than human cloning?
Anyone care to do a regression analysis which would compare the failure rate on this test to the percentage of improperly filled out (and thus discarded) ballots in these counties during the 2000 election?
What we have lost in this country is a sense of community, neighbor helping neighbor.
These were values our country had from its inception and for many years following (barn raisings being one example that stands out in my mind.) I think voluntary community service helps to restore this to the community and the individual.
Obviously, my kid, being homeschooled is not required to perform community service, but I see definite positive aspects that he is acquiring from community service.
Texas Dem candidate: State write and pub textbooks - schools as labs to improve teaching methods*** Sanchez unveiled the plan while fleshing out his education proposals, which include raising teacher pay to the national average and establishing laboratory schools connected to the state's universities to discover improved teaching methods. He had no price tag for those proposals.***
I believe it's directly linked to the non-education going on in schools. Generations of Floridians and students
graduated from all U.S. public schools are ignorant. They were robbed of their potential.
How about, apply a consistent standard to all - regardless of ethnicity. Anything else would be racist, right?
No! No! No!
''This is a totally different group of kids from last year, and every group looks different,'' said Anne Dilgen, director of student assessment for Broward schools. ``We haven't been able to analyze the changes from this year to last. We need to wait for more drilled-down data.''
They just need time to assess the situation and place blame!
My guess is, that they give some sort of credit for it, i.e. you earn an academic credit by doing it which would be consistent with the "dumbing down" of the educational system.
When the inevitable failure is exposed, the blame will be on FL for not providing enough funding. That's always the government solution: if I fail, it's because I need MORE $$$. Wish I could convince my boss of that. ;-)
It's easier than teaching.
It's twisted, self-serving thinking. The survival of teacher unions is their paramount concern. By failing to educate generations of Americans, not only have many been denied reaching their potential, but the U.S. has been diminished because we've lost part of the bedrock which ensures our liberty.
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