Florida can't figure out FCAT test mistakes, so they hire an FCAT auditor.

[madfloridian]

Bush needs a war czar to figure out his mistakes on Iraq, and Florida needs the equivalent of an FCAT czar.

Why? Because they decided the third grades did so well this year that the scores were inflated by too easy a test. So they need to make it harder so not as many will succeed and more schools will fail.

Too-easy test for third-graders may affect some schools' status, retention and next year's goals.

LAKELAND - An announcement this week that the state will be regrading the 2006 FCAT reading scores for third-graders because the test was too easy has Polk County school officials concerned - but not overly worried - about the local impact.

Sherrie Nickell, the district's associate superintendent of learning, said the error could affect schools' status in the No Child Left Behind legislation, third-grade retention and next year's FCAT goals.

Ok, something to that, maybe. But bothersome thoughts to someone like me who taught for so many years. FCAT was just getting underway when I retired...thank goodness.

But since there are so many problems, and no one in Tally knows anything about testing even though they are totally in charge of telling teachers how to teach....they are going to hire an FCAT auditor to find where it all went wrong.

Sure hope they never decide to talk to the teachers about it. :sarcasm:

State Will Hire An FCAT Auditor

ORLANDO - With school grades and teacher bonuses in limbo, a team of school and state officials moved Friday to swiftly hire an independent auditor to check an FCAT mistake that resulted in inflated third-grade reading scores last year.

A selection could be made as early as this week, said Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg, allowing the advisory committee to move forward to regrade thousands of flawed exams and decide how to handle a series of problems rippling from the mistake. Much is at stake, including knowing which students need summer tutoring, identifying schools that are failing and rewarding teachers and schools that did well.

....."What led to the grading mistake on thousands of tests is not known, although one state official suggested a staffing problem at the state might have contributed.

The test is double-checked by Harcourt, the company that creates the test, and the Department of Education. Of the several testing checkpoints within the Department of Education, one group was understaffed and had only one employee instead of three at the time the test was reviewed, said Corneila Orr, the administrator of the state's Office of Assessment and School Performance.

Orr said that she had also unintentionally approved the test with the mistake.

Just be sure to talk amongst yourselves at the testing company and in Tallahassee...bring in the legislators who probably couldn't pass all these test anyway. Just be sure not to consult with teachers and faculties who actually work with the children. That could lead to disaster.

[Aviation Pro]

1. The disaster is looming in the form of this....

...Ignite Learning owned and operated by, you guessed it, a member of the criminal Bush clan (in this case the whoremongering Neil). Their chief claim to fame is a comprehensive learning gizmo (in their corporate speak, solution) called, get this, a Learning COW. Basically, they reduce learning to a series of PowerPoint presentations with wooshy bulletpoints and swishy transitions that they claim increases test scores by 22%.

It is by all accounts, again this is the most cancerous family in America, a crock-o-the-shit. For a better idea on said crock-o-the-shit go to the Wiki entry to learn about this aberration. (Oh, and don't be fooled by the test scores, remember these cocksuckers are famous for rigging the scores).

[WinkyDink]

2. Hey! Don't blame Neil! That COW just showed up at his hotel room! ;)

[madfloridian]

3. They can't grade the schools because the scores were inflated?

I am now beginning to wonder how they came to that conclusion. If the FCAT is the only means of testing a school now, then we are in trouble.

That is just so wrong. My last school before I retired was lacking needed supplies which were given to schools in wealthier neighborhoods which might have two sets of each text....while we had old and dated texts. We were a school that was in a less affluential neighborhood.

We have put the fate of schools and students on one test. There is so much wrong with that picture.

FCAT error could delay school grades

ORLANDO -- A task force charged with restoring public faith in the FCAT ended its first meeting Friday with more questions than answers. One of the questions: When will the state release the much-anticipated school grades?

''As a practitioner, I'm concerned with immediacy,'' said Miami-Dade Associate Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, noting that FCAT scores help identify struggling readers, are required for high school graduation and are used to determine which schools are meeting the federal No Child Left Behind law.

''At what point can we expect some information that we can use?'' he asked.

Acting Education Commissioner Jeanine Blomberg's response: ``I don't know.''

The Florida Department of Education announced last week that it would have to rescore last year's third-grade FCAT reading test after officials discovered a year later that human error had inflated student scores. Officials are looking at a number of factors that may have contributed to the problem but have been unable so far to specify what went wrong.

DOE officials said the mistake could delay the release of this year's school grades, which typically is done in mid-June. It also could push back the date that schools notify parents of tutoring programs and transfer options they are required to offer as a result of not meeting federal education standards.

[madrchsod]

4. thank god i graduated in 1966

some how my generation and those before it did a pretty good job building this country without the "no (every)children left behind"laws. we had our standard tests but only a few kids really gave a crap and for the rest it was just away to get out of class. now the whole world depends on every kid passing or the school will be "blacklisted" and teachers sent to a reeducation camp...

[madfloridian]

5. I just realized something odd...

I don't remember putting this post in my journal. I must have accidentally hit the Add To button.

It's ok it's in my journal, I just don't remember putting it there. Hmmm..must have been late.

Yep, the FCAT has become God here. Other classes are being cut back so they can teach to the test.