Orlando Examiner (Florida)
May 2, 2011
HEADLINE: Advanced math students caught in testing crossfire

By Chris Friend

Since 1990, students in Florida have had to prove their achievement by passing the FCAT, the state's achievement test used for No Child Left Behind funding, school grades, high school graduation requirements, and more. The Florida lawmakers have begun talking about phasing out that test, at least at the high-school level. Instead of providing a single test that is supposed to represent all courses students need to master, the legislature has begun developing end-of-course exams.

The principle behind end-of-course exams is to test students only on material they have just studied by making different tests for each course. Currently, the math section of the FCAT includes algebra and geometry skills. Some students take algebra as early as seventh grade and geometry in eighth. Other students may take algebra stretched across grades nine and ten and never taken algebra before taking the test. It seems impossible to offer a single test to all students that is appropriate for their current level of work.

Florida is now transitioning to the new end-of-course exams, but we have created a small glitch in the system. According to the federal government, all students must take one standardized math test in high school. If we eliminate the math portion of the FCAT and use only end-of-course exams, what happens to the students who took algebra back in middle school?

That was the exact concern Florida lawmakers had Wednesday appealed to the federal government for an exception to the examination requirement. Conveniently, the exception was granted-but the federal government does not control state testing. Our state laws have not yet changed to accommodate the exception of the federal laws. As of right now, students in 10th grade who took algebra three years ago will have to take a test on that subject in as little as one week. That is frustrating for the students. The situation is just as inconvenient for the schools: students who took algebra earlier do not have to take the test in order to graduate. They also do not need to pass the test as part of their GPA. They would simply be taking the test to fulfill a federal requirement that no longer applies to them, but the state laws have yet to catch up.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that nearly 40,000 Florida students are caught in this trap of needless testing. Unless Gov. Rick Scott and the legislature fixes our laws, thousands of students will be faced with a test they are not prepared to take, and hundreds of schools will be faced with unnecessary scheduling frustrations.