Assessment of A-Plus Plan Finds Few Changes in Achievement Gap:
Reform Legislation Announced

Mar 21, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bernie Campbell
850.745.0618
Media@CIVICconcern.org

Tallahassee, Florida (March 21, 2007) – A new study was released today concluding that after eight years of the A-Plus Program there are few positive academic trends in Florida’s schools and no significant change in the achievement gap. The study also demonstrates that the FCAT is a limited assessment tool, less accurate than touted, with little ability to distinguish between academic knowledge and test-wiseness.

The study, A Comprehensive Assessment of the A-Plus Plan’s Impact on Public Education, was commissioned by CIVIC Concern and authored by Dr. Sherman Dorn, Ph.D., an associate professor of education at the University of South Florida, editor of the professional journal Education Policy Analysis Archives, co-editor of Education Reform in Florida and author of Accountability Frankenstein (Information Age Publishing, 2007).

“The FCAT not only fails to provide the accountability its proponents claim, its misuse has completely refocused our schools away from the needs of individual students,” Dorn said.

Rep. Bill Heller (D-St. Petersburg) has introduced a legislative package, HB 1131, that addresses many of the problems identified in the study. The legislation would require the FCAT to be used as a diagnostic tool to help parents and teachers understand each child’s strengths and weaknesses. Every child who shows academic weakness in any subject would be referred for state-funded remediation. The legislation will also promote choice and competition within public schools by giving parents more school options and providing transportation.

“Our schools must focus on the progress of each individual student and stop fixating on one inaccurate, misused standardized test,” said Heller. “This legislation will return the emphasis to ensuring the academic success of every child in our schools.”

Download the full report here.

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CIVIC Concern is a non-profit, non-partisan policy incubator, legislative watchdog, and advocate of public policy that benefits ordinary Floridians. For more information, please visit our website at www.CIVICconcern.org.

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