You can't teach kids to write with bubble sheets and timers

By DAVID FINKLE
COMMUNITY VOICES

As language arts teachers return to school this year, we have one less test to worry about. With very little fanfare, the "FCAT Writing Plus" has been reduced this year. It's back to just the "FCAT Writing" essay test. The "Plus" part of the test, a multiple choice section, was eliminated after a very short life. The state called it a cost-savings measure, but I have to wonder if they questioned the test's validity but wanted to keep it quiet. Nearly 90% of eighth grade students statewide and locally pass the essay portion, while only 50% could pass the multiple choice test. ...

The Volusia County School District, to its credit, tried to fix that disparity. Last year, I served on a committee of secondary teachers who analyzed the sample multiple-choice questions supplied by the state and created practice materials for our students. Each teacher contributed to a bank of dozens of sample questions to use in classrooms from sixth through 10th grade. It was a huge task, but a very positive experience, and I commend the county leaders who called us together and gave us a chance to try to help students pass the test.

When the word came through that the state had canceled the test, part of me was elated (one less test to teach!), but part of me was perversely disappointed. We'd worked hard on our packets of FCAT Writing Plus questions. Had it all been a waste? I tried to be optimistic. "Maybe I can still use these multiple choice questions to teach valuable lessons about writing that they could apply to real writing situations."

Then I looked at the packets and started reading those questions, even the ones I'd written myself, and realized that they had virtually no value for teaching students anything about real writing. Those packets were good for familiarizing students with the multiple choice format used for the test -- and that's all they were good for. So far as I know, not one of the teachers who helped write the packets has said, "Let's use those questions anyway!" When the test went away, so did the usefulness of the packets.

Let me make this clear: there is virtually no correlation between the multiple-choice writing questions and the act of actually writing. The FCAT Writing essay test remains, and imperfect though it is, it at least asks students to think and produce a piece of writing. But my experience with the FCAT Plus has left me with doubts about the whole FCAT enterprise. Students who wrote decently could still fail the multiple-choice writing test. How many students out there can read well, but still fail the FCAT reading test? How many students can experiment with a hands-on lab, but can't quite nail the format of the FCAT Science test? And what is more important -- real writing, real reading, real science, or the pencil and bubble sheet FCAT version of them? The fate of the FCAT Writing Plus should give everyone -- especially supporters of our high stakes testing culture -- reason to think about the validity of the test as a whole.
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