A fresh glimpse of a post-FCAT Florida

Top education leaders and key legislators are planning a mid-November trip to Albany, N.Y., to study that state's accountability measures for high school students. This is the most tangible sign yet that Gov. Charlie Crist and lawmakers, including a key Democrat, Rep. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, may be looking beyond the FCAT. More here. 

Comments

Charlie Crist and the other Democrats want to get rid of the FCAT. Surprise, surprise...

[terminator]

FCAT is finally being exposed for what it is: a basic competency skills test that should only be directed at those who have lower than grade level math/verbal scores.
Instead Jeb and Co. used a sledge hammer to kill a nat, forcing even higher performing students whose reading/math skills far surpass FCAT's minimal competency assessments to spend countless hours on rote "kill and drill" exercises, sucking all the fun and creativity out of teacher lessons.
Now that shortcomings in the way the FCAT test has been administered have been exposed, the state wants to switch gears and take us to FCAT II (end of course exams). I think we've already got those, they're called final exams.
The only reason Frenchie, Martinez and Shanahan are going to New York is because MAP has a fatal flaw in that FCAT can't be used to evaluate teachers for merit pay due to the fact most teachers don't teach classes or subjects that can be tested by FCAT. Thus no way to tie the cart and horse together.
Problem is, New York invests alot more into public education than Florida ever thought about (almost double per pupil spending).
Florida with it's dismal per pupil spending allocation coupled with it's lowest quartile standing in graduation rates, SAT/ACT test scores, NAEP test scores, teacher salaries, etc. would only be setting unrealistic goals for a state that's mired on the bottom of all education statistical categories.
If you think we've got a high school graduation problem now, just wait and see what happens when they attempt to institute NY Regents style exams on an illiterate populace that's a by-product of a dumbed down education system.
They don't call it "Floriduhh" for nothing guys.

Gant has a silent G. FYI, termie.

And you might think about organizing your rants and raves into bullet points, making them easier to read. Then someone might actually make it past line 4 of one of your posts.

For the record, gnat also has a silent G.

[jr]

Well, termie does make one great point: the NY Regents exams are
T O U G H--not the cupcake bulls--- that is the FCAT.

I always read every line in a Termie post!

While I read every line, I might mention too, that a lot is just that-- two words. Termie, you're still my favorite poster and I look for you everytime I'm on on the SPT blogs. :):)

[terminator]

thanks guys.

hey forget about the spelling and diction, I'm like Charlie, just a big picture guy!

Is spelling gnat correctly an FCAT requirement? Where did termie go to 5th grade?

"alot"
is a parcel of dirt.

a lot
is many.