By CHRISTOPHER TUFFLEY
christopher.tuffley@newssun.com
SEBRING -- Considerable controversy surrounds the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test administered in February.
This year the FCAT, which has always been a topic of heated debate, is plagued with problems.
First the release of student scores was delayed. While schools received the data electronically, hard copies are not available for parents.
Now it appears those scores may not be accurate.
Five school districts (every county is a district), representing 40 percent of Florida students, independently noticed drops in scores on every level.
For example, students who had maintained above average scores of 4 or 5 throughout the years suddenly lost ground with below-average scores of 1 or 2.
The repercussions, if the FCAT is indeed flawed, are considerable.
For example, a student's class placement and grade promotion are affected.
Teachers, their performances measured in part through their students' learning gains, are affected.
Schools as wholes are affected, because the state's school performance grading system includes student learning gains in reading and math and schools must improve learning gains among the lowest 25 percent of students every year.
That lowest 25 percent of students represent 50 percent of the total points earned on school performance grades. A school's grade has economic impacts for the school, district and state.
A letter to Eric Smith, commissioner of education, signed by the school superintendents of Broward, Duval, Hillsborough, Leon and Miami-Dade counties, said data analyses "indicate that schools may be losing between 10 and 30 points on the gains component, with some districts indicating losses as high as 60 to 90 points. These losses are especially prominent in the lowest 25 percent of reading scores."
The letter also says that the biggest anomalies were seen in elementary schools from all across the state.
In Highlands County, Rebecca Fleck, assistant superintendent for curriculum, told the school board Tuesday night the same discrepancies are evident here.
She presented scores in reading and math for third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students by school. The scores represent those students scoring average and above on the test -- in other words with scores from 3-6.
For example, 67 percent of third graders at Lake Country Elementary in 2009 scored a three or better in reading. In 2010 only 57 percent of roughly the same group of students, now in fourth grade, scored a 3 or better, for a loss of 10 percentage points in gains.
Only one elementary school, Fred Wild, showed a gain in fifth-grade reading this year, and that was by only 1 point. No school showed gains in fifth-grade math.
"We simply can't explain how the scores are the way they are. It bears investigating," said Fleck, adding that Okeechobee County is finding the same type of discrepancies.
The state has been asked to review the FCAT.
School grades were due to be released within the next several days, but school districts are asking for a delay, because school grades and adequate yearly progress numbers are critical to evaluating a school's performance.
Wally Cox, Highlands County school superintendent, said it would be better to delay releasing scores than distributing bad data.
Some districts are joining in a suit against the Department of Education to ensure something is done quickly. While they did not vote on the issue, members of the Highlands school board indicated informally they were not interested in taking part in that suit.
At the same time, the board expressed alarm and concern over the ramifications of the results, and the added cost in overtime as the issue is addressed.
Friday, July 16, 2010 - www.newssun.com/0716-ct-FCAT