Report: Fla. Relies Too Heavily On FCAT
Miami Herald
Dec 12, 2007
TAMPA --(AP) -- The state relies too much on a standardized test in judging the performance of public schools, students and teachers, testing experts said in a report.
The University of Nebraska's Buros Center for Testing recommended that the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test should be combined with other measures in the report scheduled for presentation to the State Board of Education at its meeting here Tuesday.
'While we believe that the FCAT should be employed as a critical `dashboard' indicator, it should not be the only one used to evaluate schools in Florida,'' the Buros team wrote.
Instead, the report recommends using average test scores as well as FCAT proficiency rates -- which show the percentages of students at, above and below grade level in a certain subject. The averages ''reflect the performance of all students to a greater extent,'' Buros officials wrote.
Buros also recommended that average proficiency rates over the most recent three years be used to make accountability judgments such as rewarding or sanctioning schools and deciding which teachers should get merit pay.
The assessment team wrote that random factors and difficulty in equating one year's test with the next makes it prudent to consider results over a longer span.
The report also confirmed an earlier conclusion by state education officials that the improper placement of certain questions most likely caused inflated third-grade reading scores on the 2006 FCAT.