from the Orlando Sentinel, by Scott Maxwell
Once again, the Florida Department of Education has fouled up on a grand scale — this time handing out the wrong grades to 213 different schools.
And once again, it's making excuses and trying to downplay the goofs.
It's quite a strategy for an agency that constantly preaches accountability ... for everyone else, anyway.
Think about it. The politicians and bureaucrats have no problem threatening teachers and schools with everything from their paychecks to their autonomy — all in the name of accountability.
But when they mess up — repeatedly and in big ways — all that chest-thumping about holding people responsible suddenly disappears.
So I'm here to help … with the SCATS (Scott's Comprehensive Analysis of Testing Shenanigans).
If you guys want accountability in the form of simplistic letter grades, now you've got it.
Accuracy: The level to which the state got these scores wrong is really quite impressive. We're talking 213 schools in 40 of the state's 67 districts. That's one out of every 12 schools. Even more amazing, these incorrect scores were issued after the state had Florida State University "independently validate" that they were right. Go 'Noles! SCATS grade: D.
Credibility: If I had to call 40 school superintendents and tell them that I had given their school the wrong grades, I would be embarrassed and apologetic about it. Not Florida's education chancellor. Instead, Pam Stewart tried to spin it all as a good thing, saying, "I think we should have confidence in the fact that the process worked as it was supposed to." That's a scary thought. Imagine if it went poorly. SCATS grade: D.
Talking points: As silly as Stewart's comment sounds, it was very similar to one made by Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson. According to The Ledger in Lakeland, Robinson said that learning about the errors was proof that "our system review is in place and working well." SCATS grade: A for consistency. D for believability.
Common sense: The department says it caught the mistakes in the normal "review process" that takes place after the school grades have been released. Here's an idea: Review those things before you release them. SCATS grade: F.
Coming clean: When education bureaucrats in this state mess up, they don't 'fess up. Earlier this year, 73 percent of fourth-graders flunked their FCAT writing tests. This massive failure proved that Florida's test-obsessed version of education "reform" wasn't working. But instead of admitting as much and making changes, the state turned to grade inflation. Bureaucrats lowered the bar they had yapped so much about raising and — voilà! — everyone's scores suddenly looked better. SCATS grade: F.
Excuses: These are just lame — like when state officials blamed all those sorry writing scores on "miscommunication," saying the teachers didn't really understand what was expected of them. Poor, dumb teachers. This was like one of those classic nonapology apologies: "I'm sorry if you didn't understand what I was saying." SCATS grade: D.
Transparency: This is one thing Florida seems to do OK on. Based on most of what I've read, the state came clean about the mistakes pretty quickly after realizing them. SCATS grade: A.
To be honest, I'm not dying to see anyone's head roll. All I want is something painfully absent from all the discussion: Honesty.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-07-24/features/os-scott-maxwell-florida-education-fcats-072512-20120724_1_school-grades-scats-grade-inflation
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