What do you think about this??

NAPLES, Fla., May 19 — Nearly 13,000 high school seniors in Florida will not graduate as scheduled this year because they failed to pass a newly required state achievement test. Some school boards around the state have voted to allow seniors who met all graduation requirements, aside from passing the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test, to participate in commencement ceremonies, although they won’t receive a diploma.

BUT south Florida’s black community leaders and legislators plan a protest this week, denouncing the FCAT as unfair to minority students. They want Gov. Jeb Bush to put aside the consequences for students who failed this year’s test and re-examine the FCAT policies.
The protesters are calling for boycotts of the Florida Lottery, the state’s citrus industry and its major theme parks, among other measures.
State officials have said they won’t set aside the results and the governor has criticized the protesters, noting that scores have gone up since the test was started in 1998 and minority students have made some of the biggest gains.
“This is a time to celebrate, this is not a time to boycott,” Bush said last week.
This is the first year that seniors have been required to pass the test, which measures reading, writing and math skills, before graduating. Those failing are roughly one of every 11 seniors.
Schradaath Charles is one of 27 seniors at Naples High who have met all the requirements necessary to receive a diploma — except passing the FCAT. Charles, 18, spoke almost no English when she came to the United States four years ago from her native Haiti.
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With the new school board ruling, Charles can don a cap and gown, even though she won’t get a diploma on graduation night.
“I’m really happy I get to walk with my friends,” Charles said. “I’m not going to give up and I’m going to do everything I can to pass (the FCAT).”
Naples High counselor Bernardo Torres said he’d like to see the state implement a different FCAT scoring system, especially in reading, for students who are still learning English.
In Haines City, 82 seniors — more than 25 percent of the senior class — are being denied graduation because of the FCAT, principal Duane Collins said. Haines City has Polk County’s highest percentage of students for whom English is a second language.
“It’s easy to be upset over generalities. ... (But) the schools are not failing the kids,” Collins said. “I’m just not sure we’re being treated fairly with the grading system.”
Seniors have had at least five opportunities to take the FCAT — once as sophomores, twice more as juniors and twice more as seniors. Those still seeking their diplomas after graduation day can continue taking the test indefinitely.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/915471.asp 

Saw Bill O'Reilly last week and he had the head/president of the South Florida NAACP (a white guy) on his program and they discussed this simple sounding test. Anybody breathing should be able to pass the test if they attended school-even if not a good student. Questions sounded very, very simple.
I have no opinon on this because I do not know enough about it to discuss the subject. I do remember one question. Which is not a continent Asia, Australia, Europe, or United States. Pretty easy, I guess it would be but quite obviously there are a lot of people objecting to the FCAT.

Charlie

Why should a test be considered discriminatory? How does the test know what color you are?

People here whined about better schools and teacher accountability. Gov. Jeb Bush made this a cornerstone to his campaign. He made sure that the bar was raised. Don't cry for these idiots that can't leap over the bar! The requirements are easy.

http://sss.usf.edu/html/Professions/Counseling/graduation_require.htm 

Boo-frickety-hoo! Go to night school or start practicing your new phrase..."Would you like fries with that?"

Raising the expectations is one thing, but providing the necessary tools for sucess is another.

What has Florida done to improve the learning process of the students in order to better prepare them to succeed?

I'm not saying they haven't done anything, I'm asking this as a serious question because I don't have all of the facts. If they have simply raised the expectations without providing the necessary tools then I think there is a problem.

Robby - They're raising the race issue due to the fact that the majority of minority schools have less funding and therefore inferior teaching as a general rule. Dropout rates paint a good picture of this, minority student(Black and Hispanic) are more likely to dropout as are low income students.

Go to page 4
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/2002114.pdf 

That's a CROCK!

The FCAT is a standardization test. It's full of common knowledge and application questions. If they're not being taught, then weed out the bad teachers! If it's just stupid kids, then no teacher in the world could pull them over the bar...rich or poor.

Teachers KNOW the material that's on the FCAT. In most cases leading up to taking the test(which is spread out over DAYS!)they review. A student has SEVERAL opportunities to pass this test. It's not a one-time test.

If you want to throw a race card or a poor card then I'd suggest you get another deck. The field is wide open and there's no such thing as leaving kids behind because they're poor. Public libraries offer computers, books and tutoring. Schools are offering early drop off and latch key programs where they can get one-on-one sessions with teachers. There's plenty of opportunities. I'm glad Jeb did what he did, and think it's funny that certain sects are bitching about it. Seems like it's the very same ones that wanted these tests and better schools!

I was stating why the race card was being played, not justifying it, and these stats are for the US as a whole not just Florida.

In defense of the educational system, the numbers have been improving and/or maintaining over the last 30 years, but the fact remains that low income and minority students are more likely to dropout and under perform.

Ok Chris, I misunderstood. Sorry.

The article above is a representation of the kind that needs to get weeded out! After 4 years this person can't speak and understand English? SEND THEM BACK! Tax them double. Tattoo their foreheads with "STUPID". Use them as construction cones for road projects.

It's a crying shame that the US isn't leading the pack when it comes to education. Unplug the TV and crack a book with your kids.

I think you just hit the nail on the head!! Parents need to take more responsibility instead of crying foul at the system. And in the cases where the parents aren't intelligent enough to help their kids they should care enough to get them into programs that can help, or learn themselves.

I read an article about one of the students that failed the state test. She was upset because she had already been accepted to some college but now she wouldn't be eligible without a high school diploma.

Maybe it's a bad assumption but I see two possibilities here. First, this student had received passing grades that she didn't deserve to begin with or second the university lowered it's admittance standard to allow a substandard student to qualify. I'm guessing the latter. How could someone get a qualifying SAT score and not pass the state test. I don't get it.

Chris, it may surprise you to find that the location in the country where more is spent per student than anywhere else in our country is Washington DC. Guess where also has some of the worst performance and graduation rates? Do you really think it's tied so inextricably to how much you spend? At some point, don't the problems lay deeper in our society?

Chris said, "the numbers have been improving and/or maintaining over the last 30 years" Do you believe that has more to do with performance? Or lowering standards?

Robby - Good points!

I agree, money is not the only answer, the parenting has to be analyzed as well.

As far as true performance increase vs lowered standards, I think it's a bit of both. There have been a lot of changes in race relations in the last 30 years and I think that has helped a lot in order to try and equalize the system. But I still think there's room for improvement.

My boy is only 10 weeks old, but it's amazing their capacity to learn if you just work with them a little! I put on a Barney video and his eyes get big and he watches, and they start singing and dancing, and I sing along, and the little guy smiles from ear to ear and waves his arms and trys to sing. It's really amazing! I feel for children who don't get attention and time. I think it makes all the difference. I believe more in nurture than nature... As I sit at my damn PC doing a theoritical spreadsheet on pricing to create an imaginary network no one will ever buy... ARGH!

Robby - If he's smiling at 10 weeks it's just gas... 😉

I smile when I have gas!!!

Great subject Chris.
Here in Massachusetts, the 2003 graduating senior class is the first to require our standardized test (MCAS) in order to receive a diploma.
The test has been conducted for several years now to get everybody up to date, and it has been dummied down in order to prevent marginal students from failing.

Already, the state has been able to channel resources to those school districts where the MCAS results are below average. By definition, that's a success.

The race card is being played, to the point where there is pending lawsuits. But it's not what one would think. It has little to do with minority school districts having lower funding and therefore poorer resources to educate. It has EVERYTHING to do with SKIN COLOR ALONE.
How so?
A girl in a town on Cape Cod (Falmouth) is black. She goes to a predominantly white high school. She has failed the test several times, and is in jeopardy of not getting her diploma. If that happens, she has vowed to join the law suit regarding the MCAS discriminating against blacks.
Now, I ask, how could a girl who goes to a well funded school flunk a test due solely to her skin color???

Me thinks she has lost her desire to achieve because she has fallen victim to this liberal society of entitlement.
No test could ever compensate for that.

Kids today do not read, they play and watch TV. They spend too much time on the computer, and have lost the imagination of reading a book to investigate history (another sore subject, since it is no longer taught in schools due to PC attitudes of the NEA). The children today do not have the "hunger" to read about hisory, science, arts etc. They had rather play it on computers or spend hours in front of the television. Turn the damn thing off and throw some books in front of them and tell them to earn their degree by investigating the world of books.

Charlie

PS Harry Potter is not history, but it at least opens their minds to imagination.

tg - liberal entitlement society, no. Last resort of a stupid person.

charlie - we've caused this problem ourselves by raising children with the TV. It's not there fault. When our children are 2-15 we need to be reading to and/or with them and not just letting them watch TV constantly. TV and DVD kids movies are the newest pacifier. The other thing is parents don't stay on top of their kids education.

You guys are tip-toeing around the real problem. I can't blame you as the penalties for stating the truth can be severe in our society.
The problem is that of BLACK URBAN CULTURE. There is a mindset that education is about DEAD WHITE GUYS, and anyone who i s trying to learn is selling out to WHITEY.
To point this out is to be labeled a racist as I expect some of you label me thusly.


I calls 'em as I see's 'em.