Florida's flawed testing system cheats students

Wild statistical fluctuations are the first sign of a flaw in a system. The system, in this case, is the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

Four area high schools scored a D for their students' collective performance in reading and math this year. None scored a D last year. Five high schools in Volusia and Flagler counties scored A's last year, including both high schools in Flagler. None got an A this year. Just as strangely, Flagler Palm Coast High School went from an A school last year to a D school this year, after scoring a C in 2007 and a B in 2006. DeLand High School, rated one of the nation's best schools by Newsweek this month, went from an A to a C. Spruce Creek High School, a veteran of "best schools" lists, including Newsweek's, dropped from A to B.

The same dramatic fluctuations apply across Florida, where A-rated high schools dropped from 120 last year to 68 this year, and A schools overall (including middle and elementary schools) dropped by half, from 30.5 percent of the total to 16.7 percent.

Does any of this make sense? It shouldn't. For all the attrition and graduations in each school, the large staffs and larger student bodies that make up each high school don't suddenly go from excellent to dismal or vice-versa. From year to year, it's mostly the same teachers using the same methods to teach students whose relative collective brightness doesn't increase or decrease as dramatically as the grades suggest. The problem isn't teachers or schools or students.

The problem is the FCAT test, especially in high school, where the 10th grade class alone overwhelmingly defines an entire school's grade (after 10th grade, only 11th grade science factors into a school's overall score). So any school's grade is, essentially, the verdict on a single class. There are fluctuations between classes. Some are weak. Some are strong. They average out over a four-year high school cycle. FCAT's system obscures a more accurate picture of a high school's quality by lumping all judgments on the 10th-grade class.

It's not only unfair to schools' reputations, but also deceptive. It undercuts the validity of the high-stakes test -- especially as those collective grades determine a school's eligibility for bonus money. High-performing schools that get good grades but don't necessarily improve, like Spruce Creek High School (B, B, A and B over the last four years) get penalized out of bonuses, too, because FCAT rules demand that a school show improvement to qualify.

Little of this is improving the quality of education. Florida's graduation rate is the fifth-lowest in the nation. That's after an entire generation of Florida students has gone through the FCAT as a high-stakes test. The point of the test -- as a diagnostic tool designed to focus more attention on those who need it most -- is lost. The FCAT is a success in its own world, not beyond it. Parents, school staffs and students should take those collective grades with more than a grain of salt. They don't mean much.

Two changes may improve matters next year. High schools will be able to include student performance on Advanced Placement tests and graduation rates in the mix of what determines a high school's collective grade. For schools like Spruce Creek and Flagler Palm Coast High School -- AP powerhouses -- the change should put more balance in those annual grades. But the changes aren't enough to restore FCAT's validity as a diagnostic tool, rather than a flawed system of reward and punishment. That's the test the Legislature has yet to face.
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