FCAT Response from Governor Rick Scott
October 20th, 2011
Dear Ms. Kniola,
Thank you for writing to Governor Rick Scott regarding the Florida End-of-Course (EOC) Assessments and the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test® (FCAT), which is currently transitioning to the FCAT 2.0. The Governor received your e-mail, and I have been asked to respond on his behalf.
Based on your blog and the information that you provided in your e-mail, one of your primary concerns about the statewide assessments seems to be the issue of “teaching the test.” All schools are required to teach specific educational standards, and the FCAT 2.0 and Florida EOC Assessments assess how well students are learning these standards. If you wish to learn more about Florida’s educational standards, they may be accessed at http://www.fldoe.org/bii/curriculum/sss/. No school should be ignoring its instructional responsibilities to spend long hours in activities called “FCAT preparation.” All-around good instruction of the standards will provide students the knowledge and skills they need to be successful on the statewide assessments.
Based on the concerns that you have expressed, you may be happy to know that there is an ongoing effort to curb the practice of “teaching the test.” In 2008, Senate Bill 1908 was passed, and Section 1008.22, Florida Statutes, was amended. If you wish to review the statutory language pertaining to the prohibition of certain test preparation activities, go to http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=1000-1099/1008/Sections/1008.22.html. If you have questions or concerns about the implementation of this legislation or other curriculum matters, you should contact your local school board.
In addition, while the statewide assessments are used to comply with state accountability requirements, you may not know that they are also used to comply with federal accountability requirements. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires states to administer assessments in reading, mathematics, and science for accountability purposes in order to receive federal education funds. If you wish to learn more about the NCLB Act, please go to http://www.fldoe.org/nclb/. Without a statewide assessment like the FCAT, Florida would potentially lose over 1 billion dollars in annual federal education funds (Title I, Title II, Title III, Title IV, Title VI, and IDEA funds).
You may be happy to know that Florida is planning to transition to Common Core Assessments in 2014-15. If you wish to review the schedule for this transition, please go to http://www.fldoe.org/asp/k12memo/pdf/tngcbtf.pdf. If you wish to learn more about the Common Core Assessments, please go to http://www.fldoe.org/parcc/.
I hope this information is helpful.
Sincerely,
Sharon Koon, Ph.D.
Assistant Deputy Commissioner
Office of Assessment
Accountability, Research, and Measurement
Florida Department of Education
And the latest news on the "No Child Left Behind Act" is taking it's course on a requested reprieve. A good start!
Dear Ms. Kniola,
Thank you for writing to Governor Rick Scott regarding the Florida End-of-Course (EOC) Assessments and the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test® (FCAT), which is currently transitioning to the FCAT 2.0. The Governor received your e-mail, and I have been asked to respond on his behalf.
Based on your blog and the information that you provided in your e-mail, one of your primary concerns about the statewide assessments seems to be the issue of “teaching the test.” All schools are required to teach specific educational standards, and the FCAT 2.0 and Florida EOC Assessments assess how well students are learning these standards. If you wish to learn more about Florida’s educational standards, they may be accessed at http://www.fldoe.org/bii/curriculum/sss/. No school should be ignoring its instructional responsibilities to spend long hours in activities called “FCAT preparation.” All-around good instruction of the standards will provide students the knowledge and skills they need to be successful on the statewide assessments.
Based on the concerns that you have expressed, you may be happy to know that there is an ongoing effort to curb the practice of “teaching the test.” In 2008, Senate Bill 1908 was passed, and Section 1008.22, Florida Statutes, was amended. If you wish to review the statutory language pertaining to the prohibition of certain test preparation activities, go to http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=1000-1099/1008/Sections/1008.22.html. If you have questions or concerns about the implementation of this legislation or other curriculum matters, you should contact your local school board.
In addition, while the statewide assessments are used to comply with state accountability requirements, you may not know that they are also used to comply with federal accountability requirements. The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires states to administer assessments in reading, mathematics, and science for accountability purposes in order to receive federal education funds. If you wish to learn more about the NCLB Act, please go to http://www.fldoe.org/nclb/. Without a statewide assessment like the FCAT, Florida would potentially lose over 1 billion dollars in annual federal education funds (Title I, Title II, Title III, Title IV, Title VI, and IDEA funds).
You may be happy to know that Florida is planning to transition to Common Core Assessments in 2014-15. If you wish to review the schedule for this transition, please go to http://www.fldoe.org/asp/k12memo/pdf/tngcbtf.pdf. If you wish to learn more about the Common Core Assessments, please go to http://www.fldoe.org/parcc/.
I hope this information is helpful.
Sincerely,
Sharon Koon, Ph.D.
Assistant Deputy Commissioner
Office of Assessment
Accountability, Research, and Measurement
Florida Department of Education
And the latest news on the "No Child Left Behind Act" is taking it's course on a requested reprieve. A good start!
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