Board Of Ed Looks To Avoid Another Grades Fiasco

June 19, 2013

Looking to avoid another botched rollout of school grades this year, the State Board of Education on Tuesday asked Education Commissioner Tony Bennett to appoint a task force to examine the test scores used to calculate the grades.

The move comes just a few weeks before the grades are set to be released, and with superintendents warning that preliminary calculations already show a possible collapse in the grades for schools across the state.

“The resulting grades show nearly 10 times more ‘F’ elementary schools in our district,” said Hillsborough County Superintendent MaryEllen Elia.

Educators suspect the grades are being complicated, at least in part, by a slew of changes to the state’s testing regimen and standards. In addition to the increased standards, a provision put in place last year to keep school grades from dropping more than one letter is set to expire.

In all, there are 13 changes being made to the scores this year after 19 were approved by the state board last year, said Miami-Dade County Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who along with Elia spoke to the board at its Tuesday meeting to push for change.

“When you put all of that together, I don’t think anybody’s taken the time to examine the implications of the simultaneous coming together of all these variables,” Carvalho said.

While it was mentioned only in passing at the meeting, last year’s mishandling of the release of state grades formed part of the backdrop for Tuesday’s discussion.

Bennett’s predecessor, Gerard Robinson, resigned in 2012 after less than a year on the job after the public-relations pounding the department took when FCAT scores collapsed, followed a few months later by a school grades mix-up.

The Florida Board of Education was forced to lower passing grades for the statewide writing tests last year after the passing rate plunged from 81 percent to 27 percent for fourth graders and showed similar drops in eighth and 10th grades.

Then, in July, the department had to reissue grades for 213 elementary and middle schools and nine school districts as part of a “continuous review process.”

Within weeks, Robinson was gone, though he said the resignation was to allow him to spend more time with his family.

But Carvalho said that at least one problem had been repeated, saying the state had not done enough to prepare parents for the possibility of a widespread drop in grades as standards increased, and clarifying that students might be learning more even as the grades fell.

“Now we are but a couple weeks away from the release of letter grades,” he said. “It’s too late.”

Bennett and board members are hoping that’s not the case. The task force will include superintendents from different regions of the state as well as state officials who deal with the testing and accountability system. While no board meetings are scheduled before September, Chairman Gary Chartrand said one could be called if Bennett’s group recommends changes.

“It may be late, but it’s not too late,” Chartrand said.

The task force is expected to be put together by sometime next week.

By Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

Comments

5 Responses to “Board Of Ed Looks To Avoid Another Grades Fiasco”

  1. Lynn on June 20th, 2013 8:46 am

    I agree with Stephanie. My student consistently makes 5 or 6 on her reading FCAT practice test graded by her teachers. When she takes the real FCAT she always makes a 4. It would be nice to see what area in reading to work on that will improve her score.

  2. Stephanie Small on June 19th, 2013 9:42 am

    The FCAT is one test given on one day. Student results indicate how many questions were answered correctly. I’ve always thought it would be a good idea to actually review the test with the students. By having their actual test and the answers they gave available, they will KNOW where they went wrong. I mean, a doctor goes over blood test results when diagnosing a patient. Why can’t we as teachers do the same. Just an idea.

  3. Fairlane63 on June 19th, 2013 7:57 am

    429SCJ: I think the main reason for that is federal government involvement. Since it unconstitutionally inserted itself into public ed, schools in general have declined.

    Of course, the state government hasn’t been real helpful in the last few years either…

  4. Robert S. on June 19th, 2013 7:44 am

    Some years ago the school grades “slipped” below what the masterminds at the state thought they should be. How to make them appear to be better? Why, the state “sanitized” – their actual term – the grades and in some magical hocus-pocus the grades raised up.
    School grades seemingly are whatever the leadership in Tallahassee wants for them to be. Too many failing schools? Just lower the standards so more can have better grades. How is that methodology producing any realistic results?
    We have a measurement system where the FCAT scores of a single student can cause a school to drop one or two letter grades. How is that fair to the rest of the kids, teachers and the school?
    This is like the state measuring my performance in the 100 yard dash against Justin Gatlin. When I cannot even come close to his achievements the state just moves me closer to the finish line.
    The big question with state grading of schools is if the Tallahassee leadership can “craft” grades however they wish so they will give a nicer appearance to the public then what do they really mean?
    Smoke and mirrors with kids and schools held in the balance.

  5. 429SCJ on June 19th, 2013 5:36 am

    I remember schools started slipping here around the 1965-1966 time period. They were doing much better before that but something happened and it has been down hill ever since?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News