Life after FCAT
The brand new gov, Mr. Crist, is saying he's going to make some changes to the way the FCAT is used in our public schools. Hallelujah!
As a parent of kids in public schools, I like the idea of having a test that measures what they've learned. I don't like, however, how that test has been used to reward and punish schools. Worse, I don't like the fact that over the years I've observed more and more teachers "teaching to the test." I want my kids to be taught to THINK!
I hope Crist is getting good advice -- namely from the people on the front lines, the teachers teaching in classrooms, particularly those dealing with kids who don't have all the advantages my own children had.
As a parent of kids in public schools, I like the idea of having a test that measures what they've learned. I don't like, however, how that test has been used to reward and punish schools. Worse, I don't like the fact that over the years I've observed more and more teachers "teaching to the test." I want my kids to be taught to THINK!
I hope Crist is getting good advice -- namely from the people on the front lines, the teachers teaching in classrooms, particularly those dealing with kids who don't have all the advantages my own children had.
posted by Ana Veciana-Suarez at 8:34 AM
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3 Comments:
The FCAT is a unsuccessful response to a complicated matter.
I agree with you that testing is well and good as a way to gauge a child's progress and in order to identify learning gaps. What the State of Florida has created out of the FCAT test is a monster. Children are threatened with retainment - teachers are pushed by the administrators - and very little REAL teaching occurs.
Teaching to the test is not productive in the long run. The child needs to learn concepts and be able to problem solve in many different arenas.
The FCAT has been a handicap to teachers and has limited what our children are being taught. I do hope that Gov. Crist can make the changes necessary to correct this problem and make the testing just another evaluation tool. Not the ONLY tool - with sharp edges!
So, in today's news they are saying that a NEW requirement for graduation will be in place by the time that this year's freshmen are ready to graduate...a writing test.
Let's test the politicians that think up all these requirements for our kids, and we will see how many (or few) of them will pass. It would be an interesting excercise, I think.
Poor kids -- I am glad that I am not one of them.
FCAT is just ONE response to a complicated matter. Because students were learning nothing before FCAT, how can you say FCAT is holding students back. If a child knows the answers to all the FCAT questions, he or she is a well-informed student, indeed. Because students were learning nothing before FCAT, how can you say FCAT is holding students back.
We cannot blame our children's lack of knowledge on either FCAT or their teachers. This lack of knowledge began long ago when their grandparents began to forget how to think critically. They, who were then parents of young children, became too materialistic, too simplistic and too self-indulgent of their own and their children's behavior.
To cut to the chase, until our society again begins to think critically, not ignoring intellectual and moral law, we will continue to bash FCAT, teachers and schools, while telling Johnny how wonderful he is for just being on the planet.
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