Stop Using the FCAT! : A Former Teacher's FCAT Story by Ken Taber

    /24-7PressRelease/ - December 15, 2005 - Jim Davis wants to be Florida's next governor. He also wants to stop the use of the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test. Many Floridians feel the same as Jim Davis. I'm not sure whether ending the FCAT is politically possible but the FCAT definitely needs some overhauling. Is the FCAT helping to improve education or is it damaging education as Jim Davis says. I wonder what would happen if parents and teachers around the state starting voicing their FCAT stories. Well, here is my FCAT story. It illustrates the need for better education reforms in the State of Florida that would ban the unethical practice of "teaching to the test" as well as provide a system that would allow parents and teachers to report abuses of such practices.

FCAT critics argue that high-stakes testing creates a narrow focus that doesn't lead to real learning. Two studies done by researchers from Arizona State University support the critics and claim that the FCAT made little gains from year to year. One of the Arizona researchers Audrey Amrein contends high stakes tests have become an easy way to control what's going on in schools though they haven't led to real progress. College entrance exams appear to support her claim.

FCAT proponents say the test pinpoints student's academic weaknesses and allows the results to assist teachers in helping students strengthen skills. Jay Greene from the Manhattan Institute of Policy Research refutes the Arizona studies and finds the FCAT test to be a reliable gauge of academic performance. Green asserts that "if the test is well designed, and it's administered properly, the "teaching to the test" might be a good thing. It means students are learning to read and do math." Greene criticized the Arizona studies saying it did not make sense to compare scores on tests only college-bound students take with scores on yearly state tests almost everyone takes.

The FCAT Assessment and Accountability Briefing Book (2004) published by the Florida Department of Education says, "Teaching to the test is not and has never been the intent of the educational accountability program. Teachers should be focusing on incorporating all of the Sunshine State Standards (SSS) in their classroom instruction, not just the benchmarks on the test. Teachers should never cease instruction in their ordinary lessons to spend time teaching the content required by the FCAT.....
....Teaching to subject matter required by the Sunshine State Standards and tested by the FCAT is entirely appropriate and desirable. No school should ignore its responsibilities or spend long hours in activities called FCAT preparation. All around good instruction will provide students the knowledge and skills needed to be successful on the FCAT....
...Districts are charged with instructional validity responsibilities to ensure that the Standards are being taught in every classroom; however, each teacher has a high degree of autonomy in organizing class content."

The FCAT Assessment and Accountability Briefing Book was given to all districts in April of 2004 in the hopes that by working together we would make sure that all Florida's children receive a world-class education.

To help understand the definition of teaching to the test let's compare the ethical practice of FCAT Coaching and the unethical practice of FCAT Cheating. [Ward and Murray-Ward, 1999, p.25]

What is the ethical practice FCAT Coaching when preparing students for the FCAT test?

FCAT Coaching is:
• Teaching content and skills covered on the test
• Training students in test taking skills
• Checking answer sheets for paper completion
• Increasing student motivation on the test through appeals to parents, students, and teachers
• Providing practice in handling a variety of item types (multiple choice, short answer, essay)

FCAT Coaching is ethical but what is the unethical practice of FCAT Cheating and teaching to the test?

FCAT Cheating or Teaching to the Test is:
• Developing a curriculum based solely on test content
• Preparing and teaching objectives based solely on the test
• Using actual or authorized test items for students worksheets
• Using artificial scoring programs
• Excluding low achieving students from taking the test

Why do schools teach to the test? The reason may sound unbelievable but true. Teaching to the test can artificially raise test scores. It is kind of like baseball players taking steroids and cheating the system. The fact they raised their batting averages is undeniable but the real truth is they cheated the game of baseball. The same is true with the FCAT. We rewarded baseball players with higher salaries and ignored their steroid abuse. If schools and districts artificially raise their test scores high enough by teaching to the test, the State of Florida rewards them for their cheating and unethical behavior with incentive pay.

This must stop! Those that play fair should get paid; however, those that practice the unethical practice of teaching to the test should not be allowed to cheat the system. With one third of the state budget going for K-20 education, state legislators need to be accountable to taxpayers to ensure that education dollars are being spent wisely.

My FCAT story begins on January 13, 2005. I was a 5th Grade Teacher at Palm Springs Elementary School. Principal Sari Meyers had a 5th Grade Learning Team where she gave a directive from Palm Beach County School Superintendent Art Johnson called T minus 6. For 6 weeks before the FCAT Test, we were to stop teaching Writing since 5th Graders don't have the Florida Writes and stop teaching Social Studies, double up on Math and do test preparation activities in place of these deleted subjects beginning Monday, January 17,2005.

The district did not supply any test preparation materials and the 5th grade teachers told Mrs. Myers at the meeting which materials they could make copies for this activity with Principal Sari Myers present. Each 5th Grade Teacher donated reams of paper for the FCAT preparation activities. A joke was even made at this meeting that we were teaching to the test; which in fact we were since the very definition of teaching to the test is specifically designing a curriculum aligned to the test.

I had two incidents while where I was actually reprimanded for not teaching to the test. The first incident was on picture day. The other 5th Grade Teachers that day did not cover much FCAT Material as the students and teachers were busy doing make up and club pictures. In my classroom, I had a parent volunteer who donated her time to help the students complete their Jiminy Cricket Environmentality Challenge, an environmental contest. It needed to be submitted by the end of the week. Part of the criteria for submission is that it be done by students in an artistic manner. At the beginning of the year, I had Principal Myers' written approval for the project but I was still reprimanded for what Vice Principal Sorensen called a "cut and paste" activity. I showed my documentation that was signed and approved my Principal Myers but since it was not part of T minus 6 Program, my documentation meant nothing and I was met with even harsher treatment.

The second incident happened on Wednesday, January 26, 2005, Principal Myers and Mrs. Bowen, the Reading Coach, entered my room. Principal Myers then yelled at a fifth grade boy in my class, "WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR INDEPENDENT READING!" Everyone, including myself, stopped what they were doing and stared at Principal Myers. The child was startled and upset. Later, in the cafeteria, the 5th grade boy who Principal Myers yelled at for reading independently was crying. His mother withdrew him from school that same week. Frankly, I thought that Principal Myers' behavior was highly unprofessional. I had never witnessed such bizarre behavior from a Principal. For no reason, she publicly humiliated a student. I didn't like what she did to me, but it was what she did to the student that was over the line.
I cannot imagine a school that as a policy does not have time for independent reading. How am I now going to build the interest and "stamina" of students for a love of books if "WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR INDEPENDENT READING"?

After publicly humiliating this child, Principal Myers next walked around to the other side of the room with the Reading Coach, Mrs. Bowen, and pointed to a child's FCAT Reading Book. She loudly and publicly questioned Mrs. Bowen in front of the class, "ARE WE USING SCOTT FORESMAN?"

Mrs. Bowen replied, "Yes."

Principal Myers told the class, "Tomorrow you will have a different reading assignment. Don't blame Mr. Taber; it will be from Mrs. Myers."

The next morning I walked into my room to find 12 inches of copied papers, which said, "ECS Learning Systems, Inc. Test Smart - 5th Grade Reading - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED." I am told that the other three 5th Grade Teachers had similar stacks on their desks. As ordered I took one stack at a time. I kept those papers in Blue FCAT FOLDERS to prove to Principal Myers that the students did them.

To me, we have an ethics crisis which needs a remedy. Principal Myers did raise the school's grade from a C to a B but at what cost? Have we really improved education or have we violated our code of ethics by teaching to the test using copyrighted material and damaging our students self esteem by demanding no more independent reading?

The State's written position is clear on the unethical practice of teaching to the test as stated in The FCAT Assessment and Accountability Briefing Book of 2004. So why in 2005 is this unethical practice still a problem? If districts are charged with instructional validity, who holds them accountable when they teach to the test?

Schools that teach to the test are a terrible place for teachers to work and a terrible place for parents to send their children in hopes of them receiving a world-class education. Floridians deserve better education reforms from our state legislators to ensure that the FCAT improves education- not just test scores. In order for our state to continue using the FCAT to measure improvement in education, we must ensure the validity and reliability of these scores. For this reason, we must stop the unethical practice of teaching to the test. Florida Legislators must hold districts responsible for the instructional validity of the FCAT and stop rewarding districts that practice such unethical behavior.

Floridians deserve a world class education where true learning takes place in the classroom. The only way for this vision to become reality is to either ban the unethical practice of teaching to the test or stop using the FCAT to measure school improvement. To continue with such unethical practices is to invalidate the FCAT test in its entirety. Floridians deserve better.

I believe the FCAT is neither good nor bad, however, if we don't stop the unethical practice of teaching to the test, then the FCAT will do more harm than good. Currently, the State's A+ Plan encourages such unethical behavior with its current incentives and punishments. It leaves the responsibility for instructional validity in the hands of school districts that see more pressure to improve test scores at any price. No Child Left Behind and the State of Florida never intended for educators to teach to the test; however, it has become a common practice at some schools. Therefore, it is up to each state's legislators to correct this problem. The simple fix is for the state to clearly define this unethical practice and ban such practices. Otherwise, the FCAT critics are correct and real learning will cease to exist in Florida classrooms and both the No Child Left Behind and Florida's A+ School Plan will fail to give our students a world class education.

Jim Davis at the very least will get Floridians thinking about the FCAT. We do need to monitor student achievement on a yearly basis; however, there are definitely better ways of getting the job done than using the FCAT's inappropriate incentives and punishments. More importantly, I hope that whoever our next governor is will listen to both parents and teachers to give students in Florida a world class education.

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