Opinion

A fine madness

TBO.com
Opinion of The Suncoast News
Published: May 19, 2012

It fell to Pasco Superintendent of Schools Heather Fiorentino to offer the most telling comment on the embarrassing back-down the Florida Board of Education was forced into by the results of the FCAT writing exam. Going forward, the FCAT controversy remains merely a symptom of the dilemma facing public education and both its detractors and defenders.

The board of education had to lower the passing grade on the FCAT writing test, which was made harder this year, because two-thirds of the fourth-graders who took it failed. Last year 80 percent passed.

This prompted Lynn Webb, president of the United School Employees of Pasco union, to ask the Pasco school board to consider approving a resolution asking the state to reduce the emphasis on standardized testing such as FCAT. This "testing madness" has done little to improve public education in Florida, Webb said.

In response, Fiorentino noted that the Florida Department of Education usually waited a year before implementing changes to FCAT tests. This gave teachers a chance to work the changes in the tests into their lesson plans, she said.

In other words, Florida public school students are being taught how to score high on FCAT and other standardized tests. There aren't, however, many help-wanted ads that read: "Needed: Employees who can score high on the FCAT. Salary, $100,000 a year."

Unfortunately, a third of the money the state of Florida spends goes to public education. So taxpayers deserve some form of accountability.