Sup Blogger on State Testing POV

FCAT and Accountability

By Times Editor

I would like to know what you think of this comment that I offered to the St. Petersburg Times this week. You should know that I was asked to comment on the FCAT exams because the candidates for govenor have widely different positions on the issue and the Times, thoughtfully, wanted to know how Tampa Bay area Superintendents felt about the issue.

I would like to know if my take or thoughts about the value of FCAT are similar.

As the debate on the value and appropriateness of FCAT rages on, we should not lose our perspective. FCAT is simply one tool that allows students, parents, teachers, schools and school districts to have a deeper understanding of their effectiveness. It is one measure, not a magic bullet. It is not an end; rather, it is a means to an end. It is, however, an undeniably important element in the demonstration of a school system’s accountability to its community.

FCAT testing should not dominate a teacher’s or system’s “way of work” nor should it be allowed to drain the life out of great classroom instruction that is purposeful, engaging and fun. We should remember that FCAT serves as only one measure of what our schools do, and arguably it is not the most important measure. FCAT does not measure much of what is important to our community; consider that it does not measure creativity, resilience, curiosity, enthusiasm, leadership, courage or one’s sense of awe or humility. It does not measure politeness, compassion or honesty, all virtues that most of us value and are taught each and every day in our schools.

Perhaps most alarmingly, FCAT’s potential as a tool to demonstrate the academic achievement of a school or system’s effectiveness is being compromised as “some” seek to pervert its potential to hold students, teachers, schools and school districts accountable. They want to alter it to be a tool that punishes those who are fighting the greatest fight and whose struggle is now and historically has been the greatest.

There are reasonable fixes to the current situation. First, make FCAT a true diagnostic tool so it serves to “inform” instruction, helping to make good teachers and good schools even better. The current scenario is not much more than autopsy – data that comes too late to help with instruction and only serves to label. Second, expand the picture of what constitutes a “good” school, using FCAT as one element in a larger accountability system, supplementing the tests with other measures to give a complete picture of the efforts and successes of children, teachers, schools and districts. We must also rethink the allocation of resources around the new matrix of accountability and approach school funding from an equity basis rather than the current model that seems to favor those who already achieve at the expense of those who struggle to achieve.

Dr. Clayton M. Wilcox

Superintendent

Pinellas County Schools