Who will do the review?

The state's FCAT external review panel meets at 1 p.m., with one of the key items before it being to get a team in place to audit the mis-scored 2006 third-grade reading test. Brevard superintendent Richard DiPatri (left) led a subcommittee that got two proposals to do the work. He tells the Gradebook that the group is recommending the BUROS Center for Testing at the University of Nebraska. (To see the BUROS proposal, click here.)

"I wasn't sure we'd get any (proposals), because this industry is so crazy. It's almost an industry that barely existed 20 years ago, and today they're taking employees from each other just to get the work done," DiPatri said. "They're very, very busy."

The center would be charged with reviewing what went wrong with the 2006 exam, and also with making sure the preparations for the 2008 test are valid. In essence, the state wants to assure the public that the 2006 exam snafu was an anomaly.

DiPatri praised interim commissioner Jeanine Blomberg for her efforts to make the FCAT and its processes transparent. "She is really concerned about getting it right," DiPatri said. "I know she's committed to that. ... It just instills confidence."

For past coverage on the FCAT panel, click here.