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House proposes bill to up graduation requirements, phase in end-of-course tests

Leslie Postal, Uncategorized — posted by lesliepostal on February, 10 2010 10:19 PM

The House Pre-K-12 committee released a proposed bill to up high school graduation standards and roll out a series of end-of-course exams.

The bill, if adopted, would also make a one-semester middle school civics class and one online high school course mandatory.

The big changes, however, are:

- adding geometry, algebra II, biology and chemistry or physics to the list of must-take courses. Of course, there could be “equivalents,” which presumably would be easier than the regular courses.

– using end-of-course tests, both as part of a student’s course grade and to replace some sections of the high school FCAT.

The bill is to be discussed at a committee hearing Feb. 17.

Here is an updated version of what we had online earlier:

Florida students would be required to take geometry, algebra II and biology and chemistry or physics and would eventually need to pass state-created final exams to pass those courses, under a bill House lawmakers proposed today.

The bill by the House Pre-K-12 Policy Committee aims to beef up the state’s graduation requirements and re-focus its standardized testing program. The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test would be phased out in high school as the course requirements and new end-of-course exams are phased in.

A similar proposal last year passed the full House but died in the Florida Senate, amid concerns about cost and creating barriers to high school graduation.

The Florida Department of Education has been moving ahead to develop end-of-course exams – it will be field testing algebra and geometry tests this spring – in hopes lawmakers would pass a new law this year.

Rep. John Legg, chairman of the House committee, said the bill aims to “ake us more competitive, both nationally and internationally at a high school level.”�

Like other advocates of end-of-course tests, he said the FCAT has done a good job “raising the bottom up” and gauging who has reached a “minimum level of competency.”

But Florida needs to push its students to take more challenging courses and needs a new to way to judge if they are succeeding in them, he said.

Florida students now must take three math classes, with only algebra 1 specified, and three science courses, with the only specification that some have a laboratory component. The bill specifies what more of those courses must be, though it also allows for “equivalents.” There is already an “equivalent” for algebra 1, a slower-paced two-year course.

The proposed committee bill would replace the FCAT ninth-and-10th-grade math exams with algebra 1 and geometry end-of-course tests, and the FCAT 11th-grade science exam with the biology end-of-course exam.

The exams would count for 30 percent of a student’s final grade and would have to be passed in order for a student to earn course credit.

As money was available, the state would have to develop other end-of-course exams in English, U.S. history, chemistry, and physics, among others.

An English/language arts test that could replace the 10th-grade FCAT would be the first priority, the bill says.