State official: Diploma doesn't prepare kids for college

Florida is "not truthful" with parents about the fact that earning a high school diploma does not prepare students for college, said a top state education official who called for reform.

Satisfying Florida's graduation requirements -- but not exceeding them -- prepares high school students for one thing: remedial coursework at a community college, Frances Haithcock, state chancellor of K-12 public schools, told a panel of state lawmakers Wednesday.

"We are not transparent to our parents about what a diploma in Florida means," she said. "We need to take action."

Lawmakers in both chambers -- and both parties -- say they intend to do just that, by adding new graduation requirements and replacing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests in high school with end-of-course exams.

Bills that House and Senate leaders are working now would phase out the high school FCAT over the next few years, replacing it gradually with end-of-course exams in core subjects, including some like geometry and biology that are not required courses for graduation now.

End-of-course exams, Haithcock said, can help the state improve high school standards to make graduates "college-ready" -- like high school graduates in about 20 other states already are.

Florida's math and science standards in particular are too vague and too low, she said. "There are four [required] courses in math -- which is very good, except the most challenging course is Algebra I. There are science courses -- three of them -- not defined. That is unacceptable."

That does not mean high school education in Florida is a failure, the chancellor said after the meeting."We have been busy making foundational progress; this is just the next step. We weren't ready to change the high school graduation requirements six years ago."

Hillsborough Public Schools is already ahead of many districts, having implemented end-of-course exams decades ago, she said. Many of the district's high school students also exceed the state's course requirements for graduation. "But you can't just have 'points of light,'" she said. "You have to bring it to scale, for the whole state."

A high school FCAT phase-out would leave only reading and math test re-takes by 2012-2013, said John Legg, chairman of the House PreK-12 Policy Committee. The Port Richey Republican intends to have the panel propose such legislation this year.

The state would contract with a vendor to develop the statewide end-of-course tests with input from educators, he said.

Expansion of FCAT testing in grades 3-8, however, would continue.

A similar proposal died in the Legislature last year, largely because of the cost of implementing such reforms. Developing just one end-of-course exam costs about $1.5 million.

Times have changed, Legg said, as has the proposal. For starters, he said, the FCAT phase-out in this year's bill will produce savings, thereby off-setting some of the costs of the new course exams.

Legg acknowledged that there will be other associated costs, which staff analysts have yet to quantify. For example, since education leaders want to administer the end-of-course tests entirely by computer, schools will have new technology needs.

But lawmakers say they have identified a new source of money this year that they hope will cover at least some of those costs: the $1-billion Race To The Top federal education grant for which the state recently applied. Legg also noted that the state has already developed an end-of-course exam for Algebra, based on prior legislation.

Democrats and Republicans normally differ on the issue of standardized testing -- particularly the FCAT, which many Democrats dislike. But there appears to be new promise this year of bipartisan consenus on high school reforms, since GOP leaders are now want to shift away from the FCAT.

Democratic Rep. Marty Kiar of Davie, who sits on Legg's committee, said he's still waiting to see an actual bill. But he expects, he said, to support it. "This is a step in the right direction."

Last year's education overhaul bill died in the Senate. But Nancy Detert, chairwoman of the Senate's Education PreK-12 Committee, said her chamber's leaders are making it a high priority now.

"Frankly, I consider this [Senate] President Atwater's legacy legislation," said Detert, R-Venice. "This is going to be the big package of the year."