If you've got a kid in public school...
...you know that today is a special day. Yep, the start of the dreaded, revered, ridiculous FCAT. Life in the classroom will stop the next few days as students bubble in and write short answers to prove they've been learning.
I'm a lucky parent. My children have consistently done very well on the test, yet I hate the way it's used to grade schools. It's completely shortsighted. My children have everything going for them, so of course they'll shine. They've had wonderful teachers, are enrolled in excellent public schools with very motivated and involved parents and -- perhaps most telling -- they get a lot of pushing from significant adults in their lives.
I think the FCAT will have a limited use until we focus heavily on early education beginning at home. Parents remain a key to good education. What's more, it's unfair to punish teachers when they are teaching students who come to school unprepared, hungry, unmotivated, scared and with no support.
I'm a lucky parent. My children have consistently done very well on the test, yet I hate the way it's used to grade schools. It's completely shortsighted. My children have everything going for them, so of course they'll shine. They've had wonderful teachers, are enrolled in excellent public schools with very motivated and involved parents and -- perhaps most telling -- they get a lot of pushing from significant adults in their lives.
I think the FCAT will have a limited use until we focus heavily on early education beginning at home. Parents remain a key to good education. What's more, it's unfair to punish teachers when they are teaching students who come to school unprepared, hungry, unmotivated, scared and with no support.
posted by Ana Veciana-Suarez at 8:55 AM
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2 Comments:
I agree! Children get their values, work ethic, and real motivation from home. Parents that stay on top of the academic life of their child will help them achieve much more than the kids that are left to decide these thing and fend for themselves.
Parents need to be educated and encouraged to help them provide the necessary home enviroment for their young students.
The FCAT is a joke -- a superficial answer to a very complicated question. Maybe our new governor will put this test where it belongs - as just another tool to gauge the children's scholastic development. They can use the test to identify strengths and weaknesses in the curriculum or programs - but no longer as a PR ploy to make it appear as if the politicians are actually accomplishing improvements in our schools.
This is a joke!
Ms. Suarez,
I am a parent of a child in the Miami-Dade County Public School System. For the most part, I have been very pleased with the schools attended by my child and the teachers that have taught my child.
However, I am in total agreement with you about the way the FCAT is misused and how it has a detrimental impact on the students and educators of our inner city schools.
These kids require more face time with their teachers, learning basics that the middle class children have with them when they first walk into the building. Children of immigrants or financially struggling families do not have the support structure that gives them a "leg up"in education.
I say that we use these tests to identify gaps and then we formulate plans to close these gaps. Use the money to help these children and their schools.
Life is difficult - and if all we teach our kids is how to take tests - we are ensuring that their lives are even harder.
I say - back to basics.
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