This is just another list about how the FCAT hurts kids

From the Orlando Sentinel, by Leslie Postal

Central Florida educators worried about Florida’s extensive use of tests to make key education decisions have put together a white paper and a presentation detailing their findings.

The group is led by Rick Roach, an Orange County School Board member who has made it clear before he’s no fan of the FCAT and the state’s testing policies (see here and here).

Roach and other members presented the highlights this week to the Central Florida Public School Boards Coalition and hope to do the same to the Florida School Boards Association next month.

Some key points from their presentation:

–Florida has stricter rules tied to testing than many other states, with mandatory retention and/or remediation for those who score poorly on FCAT.

–Testing takes up to 77 days of the school year in some schools.

–Testing costs Orange County schools alone more than $1.5 million

–Testing takes up huge amounts of staff time, with training required for administrators and proctors, and it takes over computer labs and other classrooms, displacing regular classes.

– FCAT reading exams contain passages on topics students “would probably never chose to read on their own,” perhaps explaining the low scores.

–The design of the FCAT reading exam aims to “trick” students “into selecting the incorrect answer.”