Study Gives FCAT Mixed Assessment
Laura Green
Palm Beach Post
Dec 11, 2007
Independent test experts found no evidence of widespread problems with the FCAT after last spring's test scores showed a disturbing drop in third-grade reading.
But the researchers also issued a blow to the state, suggesting that FCAT scores should not be the sole measure of successful schools. That secondary conclusion overshadowed the rest of the report, which otherwise confirmed the Department of Education's hypotheses.
Superintendents, district testing coordinators and test critics around Florida cheered the conclusion on page 21 of the 45-page report : "While we believe that the FCAT should be employed as a critical 'dashboard indicator' it should not be the only one used to evaluate the schools in Florida."
St. Lucie County Superintendent Michael Lannon was happy with the recommendation that the FCAT not be the sole measure of a school's performance, something he said he has been telling people for years. He said using a single test does not do justice to a school's other attributes, from its foreign language program to athletics to music.
The report comes as new Education Commissioner Eric Smith attends his first State Board of Education meeting today. The findings from the Buros Center for Testing will be presented then.
Buros was hired to study what caused scores on the third-grade reading test to jump by 8 percentage points in 2006 and then plunge 6 points last spring.
State officials attributed the problem to the location of certain questions in 2006 earlier in the test, when students are fresher and more likely to answer correctly, when compared with previous years' tests. Buros concurred in the report issued Monday.
Delores Calloway, director of instruction for the Martin County School District, said she was eager to read the report.
"I know that they have all kinds of statisticians and all kinds of people to make sure a test is not biased, that everything is laid out properly," she said. "I believe that every effort was made."
The scope of the Buros work was supposed to be limited to studying the third-grade issue. An external committee that has been studying the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is pushing to have the firm study other concerns, such as how scores universally drop among high school students.
Buros said its report should put an end to any questions about what happened with the 2006 third-grade reading test. But the report also will probably fuel efforts to lessen the reach of the FCAT.
The test is used to decide which students are promoted to fourth grade, who can graduate and whether teachers earn bonuses.
Because of year-to-year fluctuations in test scores, Buros also suggests using several years' scores instead of a single year's to give sanctions or rewards, such as merit pay for teachers.
Buros will issue a third and final report on the third-grade reading issue, recommending changes.