kids can't pass, lets lower the standards

[RACER X]

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/Passing-score-lowered-for-FCAT-Writing-exam/-/1637132/13396234/-/k1ckc2z/-/index.html

Passing score lowered for FCAT Writing exam
Emergency meeting called over drastic drop in FCAT scores

[pauldun170]

Sounds a bit more complicated

This is the first year students and schools will be assessed on the basis of tougher tests and scoring systems, expecting to result in more students failing the FCAT and lower school grades.

The board, though, agreed at its regular meeting last week not to let any school drop more than one letter grade this year to help them adjust to the rigorous new standards.

The writing exam was made more difficult by increasing expectations for proper punctuation, capitalization, spelling and sentence structure. The board also increased the passing grade from 3.5 to 4 on scale of zero to 6.

The preliminary results show only 27 percent of fourth-graders received a passing score compared with 81 percent last year.

For eighth-graders it was 33 percent — down from 82 percent in 2011. For 10th-graders it was 38 percent — a drop from 80 percent last year.

The lower passing score is expected to increase the number of students passing the exam to 48 percent for fourth grade, 52 percent for eighth grade and 60 percent for 10th grade, still well below last year's results.

"This incident again demonstrates that Florida school grades reflect profoundly political decisions, not objective measures of teaching and learning," said spokesman for FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing in Jamaica Plain, Mass, Bob Schaeffer, in an email. "How can a measure which fluctuates from 81 percent to 27 percent 'proficient' in just one year even meet the laugh test?"

I'm not ready to jump on board a bandwagon yet.
Gonna have to get over my negative assumptions on standardized testing and Florida before I spend time on this one.

[Homeslice]

Meanwhile let's prevent teachers from disciplining the students to try and get their performance up

Dipshit baby boomer & gen x parents get all riled up......."Nobody can touch or talk smack at my kids! I'm the only one who can do that!" (except they never do)

[Riceaholic]

I've lived in Florida a looong time. Not far from Orlando in fact. Hands down the dumbest parent/children combination I've ever seen.