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Saturday, April 21, 2012

A parents thoughts on the FCAT

From the Orlando Sentinel's Letter page

We recently moved to Florida from Ohio because of a job opportunity. Little did we know that we would spend the good part of our first four months here trying to understand the ridiculous standardized test program for public-school students known as FCAT.

We have triplets in the third grade. How painful it was to find out at our first meeting with teachers that third-graders who do not pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test can be retained, regardless of their existing grades or the assessment of the teacher.

Though two of our girls excel academically, they have suffered from severe test anxiety. Our third daughter, who has attention-deficit disorder and struggles in school, is at risk of being held back despite obtaining B's and C's, and contrary to research that shows that retention is detrimental to children.

For our daughter — and our family — retention would be psychologically devastating. All of this because of No Child Left Behind and other mandates created by federal and state lawmakers who have little background in education. These policies are leaving many children behind in the third grade who are otherwise bright and motivated, but score poorly on standardized tests.

Parents and educators need to fight back against policies that link a single exam to everything from third-grade graduation to teacher compensation.

Anne Packham

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-letters-fcat-florida-041812-20120417,0,7283534.story

4 comments:

  1. I totally agree to this. People who do not know our children are making decisions that only the parents should be making. The government needs to get their noses out of the family.

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  2. My son was a third grader this past school year. He recieved mostly A's and B's on his report card with the exception of his reading grade which was a C. He took the Fcat, failed it, and attended summer school. He then took another standardized at the end of the summer and did not make the "percentage" that he needed. He has been retained to the third grade. Since I found this out (and by the way did not find out until this past Tuesday which was 6 days before the first day of school)I have been calling and meeting with everyone I can think of to somehow overturn this decision. The only answer I have gotten thus far is "I'm so sorry, but we can't do anything about it, our hands are tied. It is not our decision, it is the state legislature." I am absolutely furious about this!! Our whole family is devastated. My son keeps saying that he is "stupid". My heart is breaking for him. No matter how much we encourage him and tell him how hard he worked in school and how well he did on his report card and how proud we are of him, he still says awful things about himself and all because of this STUPID test!!! Our son even has an IEP which, I believe, should help, if not protect him from situations like this. How can a 9 year old look at his report card from the year, see all good grades, and possibly understand why they can not go on to the next grade.
    I will continue to fight for my child. I have talked to teachers, priciples, and school board members. and I will keep going up until someone tells me something other than "sorry, nothing we can do". My child struggles with reading and test taking but is very bright and should not have to deal with the burdens that come along with repeating a grade.

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  3. please write me at cpgbonjovi@gmail.com

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