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by rlynne from Bartow

Last Post 105 days, 16 hours Ago


Florida Save Money Kill A CAT - FCAT
Jun 2, 2008 | 11:02 AM
Category: News
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Now that the new Florida budget is out every county across Florida has been told they will have to cut their county budgets drastically, forcing lay-offs and cutting additional programs.   Florida schools are already suffering and now teachers will be forced to do even more with even less.  Once we had dreams to cut the number of students per classroom, now we will be lucky if some class sizes are not doubled as budget cuts reduce the number of teachers hired and new schools built.

So I ask, "Why are we still spending thousands of dollars per day to continue to implement, teach, score and evaluate the FCAT?"  If teachers were allowed to go back to teaching the subjects instead of teaching "how to pass the FCAT" our students could go back to learning the basics like it should be.  Talk about a program where students are "set up to fail" this is one of them.  And by the way, no I am not a teacher, but I am a parent whose children are petrified they may never graduate, just because of FCAT!

I think it is time we KILL the FCAT! 

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Member Comments Total Comments: 16
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thebradleys read my blog
Jun 2, 2008 | 11:32 AM

The fear factor alone is worth dismissing it.

Our "education governor" liked to play The Numbers Game with ALL his state agencies. Everything had to relate to numbers. This is his legacy.

My daughter is in high school. She has no clue what a preposition is, her spelling ain't (hah!) what it should be, and the majority of her teachers TEACH TO THE FCAT only. They will not cover other information.

The FCAT has thus contributed to holes in the educational experience that parents must fill in.

Can one get through life without being able to recognize a preposition? Sure. But not being able to construct, or understand, a complete sentence or the words used to comprise the sentence is going to be a huge problem for the majority of folks heading into adulthood. It will be like going through life unable to read.

This topic is going to inspire some impassioned responses. It's going to be interesting.

Well done, rlynne. Nice to meet you.
thebradleys read my blog
Jun 2, 2008 | 11:35 AM

oh, regarding the fear factor:

Take the school's notice to parents seriously.

Make certain your child is well rested the night before. Earlier bedtime than usual. Good dinner. No stress. No arguing. Have them put out their clothes for the next day so there is no rush (or argument about what they are wearing).

Get up early enough to make a GOOD breakfast for your child. Growling tummies happen and are very distracting. Make it a good breakfast - include some fruit.

Keep things calm. Be sure to hug and kiss them on the way out the door, and tell them YOU believe in them and are proud of how hard they are oging to try.

Maybe fix a special dinner for them that night to celebrate muddling through. (Pot roast works like a charm on mine! She knows she can look forward to a scrumptious end to her day!)
MoonOwl read my blog view my photos
Jun 2, 2008 | 12:17 PM

FCAT is the reason I voted for Jim Davis. He vowed to break the ties w/funding and get the emphasis back to 'basics' so to speak.

When Charlie first got into office he reached out for comments from the 'other side'. I guess he didn't get enough letters poo-pooing tying funding to the test?

Better luck next election?
MoonOwl
tazzesmom read my blog
Jun 2, 2008 | 12:47 PM

My son in 10 grade came home a few weeks ago and told me he got a new teacher for history, the one he had all year went out on maternity leave. He told me that I would like this one as the teacher said that he wasn't going to teach what was on the FCATS, he was going to teach what they needed to learn about US history. Unfortunately, these are far and few between. I don't know if the teachers are afraid to say no so they don't, I don't know if the teachers are only provided the FCAT curriculum so that is all they can teach, but we need to something about it because if you read the real small fine print on the back it actually states that the results of these tests shouldn't be used for grading purposes. That a child can take this test multiple time and answer differently depending on how he/she interprets the question on that day. I've been saying that these tests should be scraped since my son was in 4th grade.
Gary3088 read my blog
Jun 2, 2008 | 3:08 PM

I agree with all of you on this one. This FCAT is for the birds. My kids can not spell or put simple words together to make whole and complete sentences. Yeah, this might be alright if you want to have a career in McDonald's, but one of my kids (who watches CSI every week) aspires to be a crime scene tech some day. That job isn't like Hollywood, they have to prepare reports and submit them to the court. Without proper spelling and grammar, you not only look unprofessional, but in the eyes of a defense attorney, could be downgraded as shoudy work and therefore look for technicalities in the collection of evidence.

All I have seen from Governor Christ is nothing that Jeb Bush has already done. It seems that our Governor is just walking in the footsteps already laid down, like he doesn't want to upset anybody by making changes. Something has to give, you can not keep cutting the budget of the schools and still expect a quality learning experience for the kids. If the teachers leave their jobs because of pay cuts, then that means more students will be crammed into the existing classrooms.

I am so dis-enchanted with our school system right now, if I could figure out a way to home school my kids I would do it. But working full time it is easier said than done. I don't have the time to try to teach my kids what they need to learn in school along with the things they need to learn to make it in the adult world. You can only be stretched so far and in different directions.
thebradleys read my blog
Jun 2, 2008 | 6:08 PM

Here's a fine example of studying for exams with my high schooler now that tachers teach only for FCAT:

She had written up flash cards. In her definition of some word (I can't recall offhand) she had written "apart" rather than "a part."

Sounds the same.

But one is "separate from" and the other is "together with."

Diametrically opposed definition. (The light clickd on in her head how important proper spelling can be.)

tazzesmom, you are SO right! My daughter's math teacher assumed her math class last November from the previous instructor; he did NOT teach to the FCAT. However, when she had completed her FAT this year, she told me she had never been so confident and never felt so prepared!

Imagine that.
aschelan read my blog view my photos
Jun 2, 2008 | 6:55 PM

Thanks to the FCAT, I am looking at my son going to summer school and getting another chance to take in July. If he doesn't pass it this time he will repeat 3rd grade. My son has attention issues and testing is very hard on him. He reads decently, excells in math and science, has the penmanship of a great doctor (LOL) but freezes on test. The poor kid had no finger nails left the week BEFORE the test. Ironically, his teacher never gave out spelling words, it is not a requirement. If that doesn't speak loudly as to what is wrong with the FCAT then I don't know what does!
thebradleys read my blog
Jun 2, 2008 | 7:39 PM

Spelling words. Ah, the days! (oh, here's a rant coming... pet peeve time!)

Nowadays, LOSE has been replaced with LOOSE in common spelling.

LOSE means something has been lost - a game, a toy, a sock, etc.

"Loose" means "unattached or free."

LOSE rhymes with BOOZE

LOOSE rhymes with CABOOSE

Still lost? Go find your old English teacher and have her re-explain it to you.
thebradleys read my blog
Jun 2, 2008 | 8:28 PM

I wonder if there's a way to get Bob Parker to lead the drive to remove the FCAT?

Catch Phrase (needs work but you can get it from here):

"There are thousands of unduly stressed and ill-taught children out there. Be sure to get your FCAT spayed or neutered!"
Dixiechic
Jun 3, 2008 | 7:28 AM

I am a parent and I see my child struggle everyday with school and the FCAT just puts more stress on her. Her sister is graduating this year and she did pass the FCAT, but 160 of her classmates didn't and that means a Certificate of Completion and they make sure that is announced. I sorry but back in my day we learned the basics and went on from there. I think we need to get back to the basics and quit marking these kids with just one test. They will never take this test again after high school, but they will need to know how to read and do math which some of them can't learn with the teachers only concentrating on one test. LETS GET BACK TO THE BASICS!!!!!!!!
flaterrie read my blog
Jun 3, 2008 | 7:38 AM

My two children both went to public school until their last couple of years, when my son left he had a GPA of 1.35 and they never gave him a science, my daughter they told me to pull her out so she wouldn't have to take finals then put her back or from her consultat just get a job in McDonalds, I sent them to a small private school, they both graduated and my son with HONORS and a 3.25 GPA is there something wrong with the SYSTEM yes, they do focus too much on passing the FCAT and not enough on the kids who want to make a life for themselves and never get the chance....
rlynne read my blog
Jun 3, 2008 | 3:53 PM

I'm glad to see that my blog has spurred such a call to kill the CAT, but now where do we go from here? Unfortunately, no one who has any power will truly read anything listed here, so it is almost a mute point. Many times I have considered rallying on the steps in Tallahassee, but again I am sure my opinion will fall on deaf ears.

Surely someone out there knows someone, who knows someone else that might figure out a way for us measley peasant parents to have our voices heard. If you do let me be the first to give them my two cents! I would love to be the squeaky wheel on this issue, because until someone gets their hands out of someone else's pockets this issue will not go away. I really would like to know "who" or "whom" is finacially benefiting from the FCAT. It certainly isn't our children!

Maybe a class action lawsuit for emotional stress and the ruining of thousands of children hopes and dreams would be a wake up call to our Govenor? After all money is the only thing they listen to.
charli read my blog view my photos
Jun 3, 2008 | 4:57 PM

rlynne... if we could only kill the CAT... I was lucky that my daughter was already out of school at the time, or I would have put her into a private school in another state! The teachings for the test are still well below the norms of other states that do not use the stupid test. A 5th grader in FL is being taught what a 3rd grader is being taught in other states. Heck! When I moved to FL in the early 60's I was 2 years ahead of what was being taught in public schools here... in advanced classes!
thebradleys read my blog
Jun 4, 2008 | 5:14 AM

Maybe one of the Big Guns who knows something about how government is actually run will post here -----

I mean, how do other state issues make it to the ballot?

Does it start with actual petition????

Is that what we would need here?

Has a grass-roots "get rid of da" FCAT" group been organized?

If we cannot organize ourselves we will never get this thing beat. But then again, I don't recall getting a chance to vote about instituting the the FCAT... was it just an indisriminate decision on the part of our then-governor?
jabitw read my blog
Jun 4, 2008 | 1:41 PM

I agree. It's far more important to save some money than to be sure our children can read, write and do basic math.
thebradleys read my blog
Jun 5, 2008 | 6:38 AM

It's so frustrating to see all this money being spent and the quality of the education going downhill. Sure, the governor can claim success from data, but parents see the daily results - and THOSE figures just don't add up.

Any statistician can tell you numbers can be manipulated to show anything you want...
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rlynne

Typical Libra who chooses to look at both sides of story before forming an opinion.

Member Since: 2/19/2008


 

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