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Having Cell Phones During FCAT Costs Students, Schools
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Published: March 28, 2008
Updated: 03/28/2008 12:22 am
TAMPA - Dozens of students of all ages in the Tampa Bay area saw their FCATs invalidated this month because they just couldn't let go of their cell phones, iPods or other electronics.
Despite efforts by teachers to collect such devices before the test, students still managed to violate state policy.
"It's a part of their body," said Sam Whitten, Hillsborough County schools supervisor of assessment. "We don't know if they weren't focused or just not willing to part with that."
"It's just unfortunate for some kids if it's their last attempt for graduation," he said.
High school students must pass the 10th-grade reading and math Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test to earn a regular diploma. They get multiple chances to pass it before graduation. This month's tests were the last opportunity for seniors before graduation.
Other Ramifications Possible
Besides having to retake the FCAT for graduation, the invalidated tests could affect school grades. In some circumstances, just one student's test score can mean the difference in a letter grade for a school, which translates into bonus money.
Every year hundreds of Florida students - including entire classes - have their FCAT scores tossed out for everything from throwing up on the test to taking pictures of test pages with a cell phone. This school year, the state Department of Education tightened rules for the administration of the FCAT. Any student found with a phone or other electronic device that reproduces, transmits, calculates or records in a pocket, desk or within reach during testing will have his or her test invalidated.
When devices ring or make noise, they disrupt students concentrating on the tests. Security is also an issue: Students can text each other with answers, and in one case a Hillsborough student took a photo of the cover of the test booklet.
Hillsborough won't have a count of invalidated tests until next week, Whitten said, but "we had a good number of kids" who kept mostly phones with them during testing. He estimated the number at fewer than 50, but the violations started in February with FCAT writing.
It wasn't just high school students, Whitten said: "I had third-graders. It's everywhere."
Teachers followed the process of announcing the new rule, then collected cell phones and other electronics at the classroom door, he said. Students were told their FCAT scores wouldn't count if they didn't turn them in.
Most cell phones were found when students pulled them out during breaks to make calls or the phones rang during the test, Whitten said.
"I had a mom call to see if her child remembered to bring his lunch," he said. The same thing happened last year, when school districts had more discretion in determining if tests would be invalidated.
Besides cell phones, students kept hand-held video games, iPods and a timer. One set a camera on top of his desk. One student turned one cell phone in and had another one in his pocket, Whitten said.
And students aren't the only ones at fault. This year and last, entire classrooms had their scores invalidated because information such as mathematical formulas were left uncovered on classroom walls, Whitten said.
Problem Appears In Other Districts
Pinellas County, like Hillsborough, has not counted invalidated tests, said Octavio Salcedo, testing director, but, "There is definitely more because of the zero tolerance."
"Every high school was affected," Salcedo said. "We had a few in elementary, a few more in middle school."
The puzzling part, Salcedo said, was that students who held on to their phones did so "after they saw the other 20 kids hand it over" to the teacher when they walked in the class.
In Pasco County, district assessment coordinator Madeline Barbery could recall just six tests invalidated for cell phone violations, all in middle and high schools. Efforts to alert families included automated phone call reminders to homes, she said.
Polk County schools counted 24 FCAT tests invalidated, 22 of them in high school and two in middle school, Polk school officials said. Most involved cell phones, but an MP3 player and a calculator were also found. Just one student was even suspected of using an electronic device to cheat, said Wilma Ferrer, a Polk schools administrator.
Reporter Billy Townsend contributed to this report. Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at mbrown@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-8069.
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