FCAT advisory panel to meet

The drive to find out what happened with the 2006 third-grade reading FCAT, and what to do next, is officially under way. The Department of Education has announced its new FCAT advisory panel, whose membership is still being finalized, will meet tomorrow morning in Orlando. Like the membership, the actual time and place are being worked out.

The Gradebook has learned who at least one of the members will be, though. Dr. Robert Lange, retired UCF professor of educational measurement, will represent the Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform, a group that has long criticized the state's high-stakes testing. (To see what FCAR has said about the current scoring snafu, click here.) Surprised that such an organization would be sitting at the table? So are its leaders, who got a call from Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg today asking for a representative. "To say I'm shocked is to put it lightly. This NEVER would've happened under Jeb Bush," FCAR newsletter editor John Perry said in an e-mail to the Gradebook.

Want more info on the confab? Stay tuned. We'll update here as we get more details.