Wait another week

Yet another round of FCAT scores - the big one, including the results for fourth- through tenth-graders - was expected to be released this week. No more.

K-12 chancellor Frances Haithcock informed superintendents late Friday that a variety of factors, such as having the tests scored at the same time as other states' annual exams, has delayed the release. Now the numbers are due out next week - after all our area schools have finished classes.

That can only hurt schools' efforts to get students who need extra help into summer programs (if districts can still afford them). But better to take the time to get it done right than hurry and face another scoring fiasco, right?

After the big data dump, just one final FCAT announcement will remain - the setting of school grades and adequate yearly progress achievement. That's not expected until mid-July (for now, anyway).

Comments

[dmj]

They are retained since they cannot master basic reading/math skills.
I am tired of the low standards folks on here who say just "push em through." Watch out for the enabling crowd. They always want something for nothing AND they pass it on to ther kids.

Dear Mr. Perry,

If they are only being retained because of FCAT scores, they shouldn't be there either.

How much do they pay the vendor? What were the deadlines in the contract? Did the contract allow for lame excuses without penalty?

[dmj]

This is terrible. There is no excuse despite what Dr. Haithcock says. As if they could not anticipate and know the schedules of other states? The results should be out now. What a joke. FYI - These things could be graded in a matter of weeks. I will bet that that they are done now and could easily be sent out by Thursday.

[Timmy!]

Never mind the calendar.
Never mind the test.
They had plenty of time to ramp up to meet the demand.
Fact is the private sector couldn't handle the job.
Get a new scoring contractor and don't repeat the mistake.

[John Perry]

"That can only hurt schools' efforts to get students who need extra help into summer programs (if districts can still afford them)."

Come on, now! Seriously, who thinks teachers need FCAT scores to know who needs summer school? We've spent nine months with them. We know who needs help.

And if they are going to summer school strictly based on FCAT scores, then they don't really need to be there.

Of course, if the Legislature had left the school calendar alone the DOE would not have had to get the Florida scores processed at the same time as every other state in the country. Students have lost needed services and attention to their needs, but hey, moving the school calendar was supposed to be great for the economy of the State. How did that work out?

Save Our Summers was (and is) a big lie. In a term-limited legislature, it seems that all they understand is the lie and no one is left to hold the liars accountabile. So, Universal, How about it! Where was the big windfall for state general revenue from delaying the school year?

I suggest that the negative impact of delaying payroll for thousands upon thousands of hourly workers for school districts around the state had a bigger negative (for the same total "cost" in tax dollars) than any minimal improvement to the bottom line for Universal, but we still know who will win. Don't we?

Sad. Sad. Sad.