Florida releases padded school grades amid outcry over testing

[mia]

As expected, Florida's elementary and middle schools saw unprecedented declines in their state-issued grades released Friday.

About 53 percent of schools earned lower grades than a year ago, state education commissioner Tony Bennett revealed. Approximately 550 schools were protected from even bigger drops by a "safety net" rule preventing schools from sliding more than one letter grade.

The State Board of Education imposed that provision as a buffer for schools as they cope with changing grading rules, tougher new tests and a transition to the more rigorous Common Core State Standards.


"Florida is seeing widespread declines in performance. Although we want our students to do well and the FCAT 2.0 is one important learning indicator, we need to keep in mind that our schools are transitioning to new standards and we are stuck with an old assessment system that is not aligned to these new standards," Browning said in a release. "Additionally, the current grading system has once again undergone significant changes."

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Florida leads the way for the dismantling of the public schools.

[Igel]

1. Remember the glorious Finnish test results.

The ones that showed how much better Finnish schools are?

That's the quick answer. The tests.

The Finnish standards and curriculum were aligned better with the tests than the US' were.

The kinds of questions asked were more similar to the kinds of questions Finnish tests asked than the US' tests asked.

TX revised standards a few years ago. In response districts revised their curriculum to match the new standards as best they could. I mean, they match--but the test writers may have other ideas. Now that the tests are going from 9th to 10th to 11th grade there's an outcry as massive numbers of kids fail them. Most have been made optional. Even the 5 remaining required ones were a bloodbath.

Look at physics. The old standards mentioned torque. It was in the curriculum. The new standards don't mention it. It was dropped. Both old and new standards require the teaching of motion, linear and circular, but only mention acceleration in the context of linear motion. Both talk about force.The new curriculum was aligned with the district's reading of the standards.Lots of linear motion and acceleration. Lots on force. But only a few days on angular velocity, sort of wedged in somewhere. But the district's reading may have been different from the test-writers' reading.

Somebody noticed that the reference materials for the physics test has the formula for torque on it. They talked about it and decided not put it in the curriculum. The new standards don't mention angular acceleration, so how do you get torque? Students who took the test this year reported back torque questions. So that means not only does torque have to be included, but angular acceleration must also be taught. And something else has to yield its time.

Tests aren't always fair. And when you have tests you either write the test to match what you teach or you have to match what you teach to the test. With tests to check on teacher compliance with the standards and to assess student learning across the state, they're prewritten. You teach to the test. It sucks, but that's the price of having strict standards and students that have trouble meeting them.

[mia]

2. Thank you.

Your explanation added to my understanding of the problems.