School Board asks state to re-examine FCAT

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School Board asks state to re-examine FCAT

County News

Wednesday, 06 June 2012 12:53

Hotline set up for parents

By Brian McBride
Editor
The Osceola County School Board Tuesday joined Superintendent Terry Andrews in asking Gov. Rick Scott and state education officials to re-examine the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test on how it’s negatively affecting students.

At Andrew’s request, the Osceola County School Board voted unanimously to approve the “Resolution for Education” at the meeting to address the concerns of educators, parents and the community that “high-stakes” testing is having a negative impact on students, the breadth and depth of curriculum and on the evaluation of classroom educators.
“Over the past few years, it has been widely recognized that standardized testing, such as the FCAT, is an inadequate and often unreliable measure of student achievement,” said Andrews. “While we believe strongly in accountability, the over-reliance on high-stakes testing undermines educational quality and equity in our public schools. Our Osceola students and educators deserve an engaging school experience that captures all aspects of student learning and educator effectiveness.”
The Osceola School District now joins Charlotte, Levy, and Palm Beach school districts to ask Scott, the Florida Department of Education and the state Legislature to re-examine public school accountability systems in Florida.
According to a School District press release, Andrews had asked School Board members to join him in agreement that a system based upon multiple forms of assessment, not requiring extensive standardized testing, would more accurately reflect the broad range of student learning taking place and would better support students and improve schools.
The resolution also calls on the United States Congress and administration to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, currently known as the “No Child Left Behind Act,” thereby reducing the testing mandates, promoting multiple forms of evidence of student learning and school quality in accountability, and not mandating any fixed role for the use of student test scores in the evaluation of educators.
In light of the recently-release FCAT test scores for grade 3, 9, and 10 students, Andrews has launched a parent hotline this week geared toward communicating directly with Osceola parents with questions regarding grade 3 promotion and retention options, as well as with grade 9 and 10 parents with questions regarding FCAT reading scores and options available to students.
The hotline at 407-870-7990, will be open today, Friday and Monday from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.