Learn Gibberish to Pass FCAT

Progress Florida News Blog
May 13, 2009
By Rocky

Next year's eighth grade Florida students will have their academic futures entrusted to a computer and a standardized scoring test company with a notoriously spotty record.

The kids and their parents can thank Vince Verges, director of the Florida Department of Education's Test Development Center, for compromising the integrity and accuracy of the 2009-10 FCAT Writing
Tests. DOE insiders report Verges felt pressure to reduce expenses and accepted the "low bid" to score several hundred thousand essays from standardized test heavyweight NCS Pearson. That company has had more of its share of past testing problems and scandals:

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/business...pagewanted=all

And, unless the DOE pulls the plug on the five-year Pearson contract with its outrageous parameters, next year's fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh graders must accept the same fate.

For the past several years, the FCAT essays have been scored by Measurement Incorporated, a much smaller company than Pearson and not nearly as problem plagued. MI used live scorers to double score each child's essay. That will not be the case with Pearson who reportedly will score at least 20 percent of the papers by computer.

The efficacy of computer-scored essays has been totally discredited in many states. An education journalist wrote a page of gibberish with a few "key" words thrown in and a computer awarded it the highest possible score:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/project/con...tautoscore.html

In the past, DOE has emphasized security and confidentiality in the scoring procedure. MI employees have had to sign non-disclosure agreements, wear badges, and pass muster with security personnel at scoring centers. MI scorers were prohibited from discussing the essays outside the scoring room, let alone the scoring center. Pearson for many of its projects permits its employees to score papers from home or other remote locations. Your child's essay a scorer deems "dumb" or "cute" could easily be shotgunned all over the country via e-mail.

There is a point when cost cutting is counter-productive and the Pearson contract is a prime example. Who couldn't submit a low bid if you don't need a physical scoring center or substantially fewer human scorers?

To give DOE some credit, several employees involved in FCAT testing are upset with the Pearson contract. They are afraid to speak out publicly with the state budget ax swinging furiously. Verges is perceived by co-workers as an opportunist whose personal ambition outweighs the horrific ramifications of the "cost cutting."

One remarkable outcome of this doofus maneuver is that it will surely anger opponents and proponents of standardized testing. Both camps are vocal and have crusaded relentlessly in promoting their beliefs.

Opponents can fairly assert "I told you so" while proponents will rightly view the Pearson contract as undermining their position. I could have spent weeks trying to unify these contentious antagonists and never have devised anything as effective as this patent absurdity.

http://progressflorida.org/page/community/post/rocky/CLhL