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Law Aims To Declaw FCAT Mania

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 20, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Florida schools that rally, drill and otherwise throw themselves into an FCAT frenzy may have to exercise more control, now that new test-prep restrictions have become law.

FCAT skeptics say the new policy is a triumph, in that it acknowledges there is too much focus on the high-stakes test. But they question how much practical effect the law will have, given the myriad exceptions that lawmakers built into it.

Parents and students have complained for years about the class time that some teachers spend on sample Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test questions and other test-prep activities.

Teachers have likewise complained, saying they didn't get into the education business to devote so much energy to a standardized test, as required by some principals. The spread of FCAT pep rallies, while intended to encourage students, has likewise come under fire for detracting from regular classwork.

"My own children complain every year about the amount of time diverted from what they feel is real instruction," said Sherman Dorn, an education professor at the University of South Florida who specializes in school accountability. "The issue is, how do we balance a legitimate need for accountability against the need not to obsess about test scores? No test is going to tell you everything about a child's education."

Most available data on the effects of test preparation are anecdotal, according to experts and policymakers. But Don Gaetz, chairman of the Senate Education Pre-K-12 Committee and sponsor of the legislation, said he thinks the schools that obsess over the FCAT are lowering, not boosting, students' performance.

"High standards and effective teaching produce good results," said Gaetz, R-Niceville, a former schools superintendent for Okaloosa County, where, on Gaetz's watch, schools rose to first from a ranking of 27th out of 67 counties.

"I think the idea behind this provision is to make the FCAT an anticlimax, not an end, in and of itself."

That sounds good to Sarah Robinson, a teacher and parent in Safety Harbor who belongs to the Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform, a group critical of the state's use of the FCAT. But Robinson doubts that the new law will compel many schools to change their ways.

"Until they do away with the tying school funding to test scores, I don't think anything is going to have a great impact," said Robinson, who has taught in Hillsborough and Pinellas schools.

Schools that earn A's, and those that improve by at least one letter grade over the previous year, receive about $85 per student. To date, school grades have been based purely on students' FCAT scores, though the same law that will rein in FCAT prep this year will also change the calculation of grades for high schools to reflect more accountability measurements, such as graduation rates.

For years, Robinson's family was so frustrated by schools' emphasis on the FCAT that they boycotted the test while her son, now 17, was growing up. He began taking it only in his sophomore year "because we knew he'd have to take it to get his diploma."

While approving of the sentiment behind the new test-prep restrictions, Robinson said the new law amounts to "more micro-managing from Tallahassee - which, to me, is part of the problem."

Exceptions To The Rule

The law prohibits "each public school from suspending a regular program of curricula for purposes of administering practice tests or engaging in other test-preparation activities for a statewide assessment."

But there are exceptions. Schools can still give students sample test books and answer keys, give "individualized instruction in test-taking strategies" to students scoring at Level 1 or 2, and work test-taking exercises and strategies into remedial reading and math courses. They also can give practice tests and conduct other test-prep activities "to familiarize students with the organization of the assessment, the format of the test items, and the test directions, or which are otherwise necessary for the valid and reliable administration of the assessment."

Hillsborough County school administrators are still analyzing what the nearly month-old law means. But at first blush, they think the county's test preparation already complies.

"So long as you're teaching the Sunshine State Standards, so long as the Sunshine State Standards are your regular curricula, you are preparing kids for FCAT without suspending your regular curricula," schools spokesman Stephen Hegarty said via e-mail.

The Real Impact

The new law's exceptions provide a lot of wiggle room, said Robinson, recalling reading exercises her 10-year-old daughter has performed at Safety Harbor Elementary School. "Every week, she had what I considered an FCAT reading practice assignment - a sample reading and questions. That's considered regular curriculum I suppose, but it seemed like test prep. It's a fine line."

The new law most likely will wipe out the most egregious examples of over-the-top FCAT prep, USF's Dorn said, "but I don't know if it will eliminate the other activities... Hopefully it will lead to good discussion in school districts about what we should be spending our time on."

Jackie Scaglione, principal of Riverhills Elementary School in Temple Terrace, doesn't foresee any changes resulting for her school. "I just want the teachers to teach; I tell them that all the time."

Riverhills, which rose from a C to a B this year based on its students' FCAT scores, held a schoolwide rally on the Friday prior to administration of this year's FCAT. But Scaglione said the rally would have been permitted under the new restrictions, because the school holds rallies for many reasons.

"I can show we've done it for many years on the last Friday of every month," she said "They are not FCAT-related. We've had a Dr. Seuss theme, a storybook parade theme, a peace march - we do pep rallies based on a theme of the month. We certainly don't have an FCAT theme of the month."

Hernando County school district officials began warning teachers last spring against ordering test-prep materials, said Lechelle Booker, principal of D.S. Parrott Middle School.

Booker, whose school's grade rose from a C to an A this year, tried a number of strategies to improve her school's performance, including a presentation by a motivational speaker to encourage students before the FCAT this past year. The new state law, she said, will force her to curb that kind of activity.

"We just have to conform to change," said Booker. "It won't stop our progress, though."

Booker attributed her school's improvement more to efforts that fall outside the scope of the new policy. The school has increased its focus on reading, she said, even giving out books. Parrott Middle School also sent teachers to a summer training academy Orlando to learn how to bring "more rigor and relevance" to their teaching.

Sabrina Morgan, a parent in Odessa, said she is glad to hear about the new restrictions, now that her 8-year-old son will take the FCAT for the first time next spring.

Morgan credited her son's school, Hammond Elementary, with "trying to keep an even keel" about the test, but she said she notices the FCAT-related banners hanging around the school.

"I think that's great that they've tried to make it as stress-free as possible," Morgan said. "But you can just see what the focus is."

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or cdolinski@tampatrib.com.

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