2. FCAT TASK FORCE FINDINGS
FORMED BY THE
CENTRAL FLORIDA SCHOOL BOARDS COALITION
MISSION:
TO STUDY THE RAMIFICATIONS OF
STANDARDIZED TESTING ON OUR STUDENTS,
TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS

3. TIMELINE AND MEMBERSHIP
 January 2012 – Rick Roach and Marion Brady presented to
the Coalition. It was moved and seconded to form the FCAT
Taskforce.
 February 2012 – Kick-Off meeting held in Osceola County
hosted by board member Jay Wheeler. Targets Defined.
 March 2012 – Second meeting held in Orange County
hosted by Principal Polly Roper. Targets Researched and
Presented.
 April 2012 – Third meeting held in Brevard County hosted by
board member Karen Henderson. Presentation Preparation.
 May 2012 – White Paper and video presentation to the
Coalition.
 Participating counties: Orange, Osceola, Brevard, Citrus and
Lake

4. TASK FORCE TARGETS
 Purpose of Standardized Testing
 History of Standardized Testing
 Instructional Time and Cost of Testing
 School Resources Impacted
 Test Composition

5. PURPOSE OF STANDARDIZED TESTING

6. PURPOSE CONTINUED
 A common violation of ethical practices is to use a test for a
purpose for which it was not developed. (Florida Association of
School Psychologists)
 The FCAT was designed to measure achievement of the Sunshine
State Standards. (FLDOE)
 The primar y purpose of assessment is to provide information to
improve public schools by enhancing learning gains and to inform
parents of educational progress. (FL Statute 1008.22)
 The Customer under stands and agrees that the products are
intended to be used as tools in the overall assessment process and
are not designed to be used alone or to replace the Customer’s
professional judgment. (Pear son Company)
 The purpose of tests is to deliver accurate and reliable information,
not to drive educational reform. (McGraw -Hill)
 No single test can ascer tain whether all educational goals are being
met. (McGraw -Hill)

7. INTERESTING COMPARISONS
 There are some states that do not have retention
requirements written into law.
 Florida has mandatory remediation for students who fall
below the cut score. Most states allow local school boards to
assume responsibility for remediation.
 Florida has predetermined testing time limits. Other states
allow extra time, some up to the end of the day.
 Use of the End-Of-Course (EOC) weight are strictest in Florida.
Some states weigh the results as little as ten percent.
 Florida is the only state found that would remove funding if a
child does not pass the EOC.

8. HISTORY OF STANDARDIZED TESTING

9. HISTORY CONTINUED
 1995 - Florida Commission on Education Reform and
Accountability recommends procedures for assessing student
learning in Florida that would raise educational expectations
for students and help them compete in the global
marketplace.
 1997 – Field tested FCAT in grades 4, 5, 8, 10 reading and
math Florida Writes grade 4, 8, 10
 1998 - January: 1st FCAT reading 4, 8 and 10 and math
grades 5, 8, 10 Florida Writes Grade 4, 8, 10

10. HISTORY CONTINUED
 1999 - February: results of FCAT used to assign school grades.
 2000 – Feb-March: 1 ,440,000 students in grades 3-10 took
FCAT NRT FCAT
 2001 – Feb-March: Grades 3-10 assessments in reading and
math, Writing 4, 8, 10
 2001 - August: State Board of Ed establishes the FCAT passing
score as requirement for receiving a regular high school
diploma.
 2002 Raised the bar for student performance-implemented
learning gains component. NCLB becomes law expectation of
100% proficiency by 2014. Adequate Yearly Progress must be
reported.
 2003 Added FCAT Science 5, 8, 10

11. HISTORY CONTINUED
 2005 FCAT Science moved grade 10 to 11 multiple choice
items added to writing assessment Raised the bar for student
perform - includes ESE and ELL, Writing to 3.5
 2007 Raised the bar for student performance -added science
to school grade, learning gains for lowest performing 25% in
math
 2008 removal of FCAT NRT
 2010-2011: Next generation Sunshine State Standards
adopted.
FCAT Science 5, 8, 11
Writing 4, 8, 10
Math 3-8
Reading 3-10
*Raised the bar for student performance- included graduation rate and
accelerated coursework to high school grades

12. HISTORY CONTINUED
 2011: added EOC exam Algebra 1 , each HS must of fer IB,
AICE, or at least 4 AP or Dual enrollment, PERT field tested
 2012: FCAT 2.0 reading 3-10, Math 3-8
FCAT Science 5, 8
FCAT writing 4, 8, 10
Add EOC exam Algebra 1, Biology 1, Geometry
Add PERT - 11th grade for selected students based on FCAT scores
NCLB Waiver - allows school grades to meet AYP
 Student Success Act requires Alternative assessments for
>4,000 courses for Teacher evaluations - including merit pay
for teachers.
 2014 Adds EOC exam Civics 7th grade

13. HISTORY CONTINUED
 2014-2015 PARCC assessment (based on uniform core
curriculum) will begin to take the place of FCAT reading and
math for identified grades and EOC exams
 2015 1/6 FTE penalty for failure to pass EOC exam.
 Additional tests
NAEP - periodic in Math, Reading, Science, writing, the arts, civics,
economics, geography and US history grades 4, 8, 12
CELLA - Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment-
Listening,
Speaking, Reading, Writing.
FLKRS - Kindergarten Readiness
PSAT - lOth grade
ACT and SAT
Multiple AP
Multiple IB
 EOC exams must be developed for each of the 4,0O0 Florida
courses

14. OSCEOLA COUNT Y GENERAL TESTING CALENDAR
77 days are used to administer tests in
elementary schools.
43 days are used to administer tests in
middle schools.
71 days are used to administer tests in
high schools.

15. SOME COSTS OF STANDARDIZED TESTING
 In the state of Florida:
FCAT costs are $59,890,000
RTT (Standardized Testing) – 2011-2014 costs $64,700,000
Sample District Costs:
Osceola - $483,000
Lake - $844,756
Orange - $1,543,772
Pearson Florida contract over four year period - $250,000,000
Pearson Texas contract over five year period - $500,000,000

16. SCHOOL RESOURCES IMPACTED
This section attempts to unveil and quantify
the resources necessary to administer state
assessments in the manner required by FDOE
Costs
 Set aside funds to print practice tests
 Purchase of additional computers
 Purchase additional substitute teachers
 Pay for special couriers for pickup and delivers
 Cost of gas and vehicle maintenance
 Additional Instructional materials allocations
 Cost of mailing test results in the summer
 Additional costs involving test security

17. CONTINUED
Training and Personnel
 In Brevard County there are ten different training sessions for
test administrators and proctors.
 There are twelve training sessions out of the Office of
Accountability, Testing and Evaluations annually.
 Nearly all personnel at a school and significant numbers of staff
are displaced during the course of testing. School counselors are
taken off duty to deal with testing.
 ESE teachers must cancel their time with students to administer
assessments.
 Instructional assistants, childcare workers and office staff are
used to proctor and monitor.
 Revision of custodial services
 Limited number of employees available to cover supervisory
duties.

18. CONTINUED
Facilities
 There are not enough rooms/chairs for small group testing.
 State assessment window conflicts with AP testing further
taxing facility resources.
 Few schools have enough labs to accommodate the FAIR and
FCAT testing window overlap.
 Clerical staf f must coordinate bells and supervisory coverage
during testing windows.
 There are at least 50 more areas of impact (whew!!!)

19. TEST COMPOSITION

20. TEST COMPOSITION
Interesting FACTS:
 1 80,000 High School students in Florida took the FCAT Reading test
 1 26,000 failed the FCAT Reading test
 This created the need for 1 ,050 reading teachers
 The cost of these teachers is $52,500,000
 The number of high school students taking reading remediation in:
Lake – 3,372
Orange – 19,087
 The number of seniors who had 24 credits and passing GPA , but did not
receive a high school diploma
State of Florida – 9,050
Lake – 142
Orange - 542
 The number of third graders retained in Florida ???? students
 Cost of repeating a grade ????

21. COMPOSITION CONTINUED
 Students who score a level one or two on the FCAT Reading are labeled as
having “little success with the content on the FCAT”, yet there is a growing
number of students intensive reading are clearly academically successful.
Current standardized reading assessments do not stress what we really value, which is
comprehension.
The best possible assessment would occur when teachers observe and interact with
students as they read authentic texts for genuine purposes.
 QUESTION – “Children learn how to read best in a low -risk environment”,
then why does there seem to be so much stress in the testing process, for
example we now have vomit procedure s. (“celebrati on of knowledge”)
 QUESTION – Children should be permitted to choose reading materials,
activities, and ways of demonstrating their under standing of text, yet many
are assigned passages on the FCAT of which they would probably never
choose to read on their own, for example:
Glacial erosion theory
Hiking in the Red Woods
Fly fishing in Montana
The enigma of the Echidna (an Australian, egg-laying mammal)
Cell phone tower designs
 According to the FCAT 2.0, texts should be interesting and appealing to
students????

22. COMPOSITION CONTINUED
 According to the FCAT 2.0 design summary, texts should
ensure that passages are free from bias or cultural
insensitivity.
Students in Florida have limited experience with fly fishing or hiking
the Red Woods.
 The material tested should present subject matter of high
interest and pertinent to students’ lives.
How many of us are familiar with the animal called Echidna?
 There are test item distractors on multiple choice answer
assessments. There should be no question as to what a
correct answer should be, however when test designers have
more than one answer that could be correct, but only one
answer is predetermined by the test-maker then what would
be the correct answer?

23. CONTINUED
 Here’s an example:
Which of the following is NOT a factor that makes tracking echidnas
with radio transmitters challenging? (Use of NOT is a test-taking skill
challenge) (stem)
A. Echidnas spend time in caves. (in passage practically verbatim)
B. Transmitters are difficult to attach. (distractor/enticer: extremely close
to correct answer) (in passage practically verbatim)
C. Transmitters are difficult to acquire. (not stated in passage; do we need
to comprehend to answer this or just know test taking skills?)
D. Echidnas are built low to the ground. (in passage practically verbatim)
*bolded answer is the correct one (C)
 Ultimately, reading comprehension and mastery of standards
are not assessed, for the ability of one to interpret the
intentions of test-writers are assessed

24. CONTINUED
 Here’s another example:
 According to the ar ticle, what is one echidna characteristi c that is shared
with other mammals?
F. The production of milk (almost verbatim from passage)
G. the size of the neocortex (higher-order logically correct distractor/enticer)
H. the use of spines for climbing (low-level distractor)
I. the use of the beak for rooting (low-level distractor)
*The correct answer is F
 Based on the answer provided by the FLDOE, the correct answer is F.
However, students who utilize higher-level thinking and have a higher-level
understanding of mammals may pick G. G is actually a correct answer and
arguably "more correct," in a higher-level sense than the true answer, F,
according to the passage.
 It is rather difficult to gauge mastery of standards and student growth if the
test is only trying to trick one into selecting the incorrect answer. If this is the
case, then measurement of student mastery and academic growth is not being
conducted but rather the ability to recognize when one is being deceived is
being measured. Is this the goal of standardized assessments in Florida?

26. NEXT STEPS ?
 1 . Do nothing, accept status quo.
 2. Develop a more in-depth report with full participation from
all eleven counties.
 3. Join and accept the Palm Beach County Board Unification
request.
 4. Launch a new task force to study alternatives to the current
testing; its format and requirements.
 5. Develop a plan to educate all stakeholders of public school
as to the negative consequences of the current standardized
testing on our public schools.
 6. Present this information at the upcoming FSBA convention
in Tampa
 7.What are the Coalition’s thoughts?