Shaun – I am totally with you. Maybe people should spend less time being judgemental and more time trying to be a mentor or outstanding influence in the community.

If you look at any set of students who had to consolidate from two separate schools to one school, you would see a change in test scores. That was hard on the children from Bratt and Century. In the long run, it will be good for the children but they need time to adjust to such a big change. The last thing kids need to hear is adults blaming them for “ruining” a score. They are children — and what we really need to hear us say to them is this: “We have some work to do, all of us”. Let me come to your school and volunteer as a mentor. Let me give your teacher some supplies for you to use. Here are some really great books and math games for your classroom. The kids need to know we support!

Of course a test SHOULD have negative consequences as well as positive ones.

“Do you know how to defuse the bomb correctly?”
“I’m pretty sure I do.”
Negative consequences if fail. Don’t stop until you’re sure.

As long as a test properly measures what you want to know, it’s a good thing. Those who say, “These are children, not numbers,” miss the point that the numbers give information about those children and how better to help them.

I’ve told stressed-out kids, “Ah, don’t worry about the FCAT; if you flunk it, they’ll let you take it again.”
[remember Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School when he said he loved teachers because if you did it wrong they made you do it over until you got it right.?]
“But I don’t WANT to take it again.!”
“Then just listen to your teachers and do your work and you’ll do fine.”
“My Mommy told me the FCAT isn’t fair.”
“She’s probably right, but life isn’t fair. So that might make it a good test after all.”
Then some of the smarter kids say, “Shoot, the FCAT you’re taking was easy when I took it last year.” And some of the slower kids say, “Not for me it wasn’t!”

Not all together true, though. My wife’s ESE kids did better on math than many of the non-ESE kids. Of course there’s many reasons to be ESE, though. Still, most of them would be expected to tend to yield lower performance.

David for perfect tests
perfect students
perfect teachers
perfect parents

Actually, scores of students who are not “matched,” or enrolled at different schools during both October and February FTE counts are NOT figured into school grading results at either school.

David Huie, in the near future, entrance and end-of-course exams will take the place of FCAT. The first versions of these were used in 6th grade science and Algebra this year. The State of Florida is having to face the fact that the FCAT costs way too much money to continue. A move in the right direction, but still the exams will continue to be “high-stakes” tests with lots of negative consequences.

To those who are making negative statements blaming drops in test scores on particular groups of students…2 things to consider. First, and probably most important; the students and parents to whom you refer read your unkind and hurtful comments. What if the shoe were on the other foot? Second, how do you know which particular students did not do well on the exam? You can’t look at one piece of data and make a blanket statement about a whole group of students. The thing to remember is that there is a child behind the test score.

As far as comparison, the development scaled score is a more accurate description of progress than levels 1-6. School are looking for a gain of roughly 100-150 points to call it annual yearly progress. So a kid can make a learning gain and stay within a level.

I think it’s just crazy to put so much at stake for a single test given one week out of a school year. I would hate for my employer to evaluate my performance on one one week out of the year. What if I don’t feel good or I have a personal problem at home?