March 05, 2008
On your mark with FCAT bubbles, never finding out which you miss
By JO ANN C. NAHIRNY
COMMUNITY VOICE
Are you smarter than a 10th grader?
I thought I was. I graduated from college summa cum laude, earned an Ivy League graduate degree, and I'm certified to teach six different subjects. But I began to doubt it when I administered a practice FCAT-type reading test to 125 sophomores a few months ago.
The test came from a nationwide test preparation company; the district I work for pays this firm to provide materials to help teachers assess students' strengths and weaknesses in answering the types of questions which will appear this week on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. We're supposed to use the test results to differentiate our instruction and to focus on the specific areas individual students are struggling with.
Since I never ask my students to do an assignment unless I do it, too, I skimmed the passages and responded to the questions along with them.
Imagine my surprise when I found I had incorrectly answered three questions! Wasn't I as smart as a tenth-grader? Upon scanning my students' bubbled cards using the device supplied by the company, I discovered many kids got the same three questions wrong that I did. Something seemed amiss.
Question 19 asked: What is the meaning of the word "contiguous" as used in this sentence from the article? "From there, they were funneled into what we now know as the contiguous United States." A. immense B. unrelated C. connected D. water-edged.
I'd selected "C" -- as had many students. But the scanning device pegged D as correct!
"Contiguous," as those of us who believe we're as smart as 10th graders know, means adjacent.
What was going on? I double-checked the other questions I answered "incorrectly" and realized the scanner had improperly graded the cards. Maybe I wasn't so dumb after all!
Questions 41 and 49, also vocabulary questions, assessed students' abilities to use context clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. Both scanned incorrectly, too.
How could I trust the data this test yielded? I believed three wrong answers compromised the test's integrity and skewed the results. Three questions. Six percent. That seemed statistically significant to me. It could mean the difference between a passing and a failing score.
Fortunately, I alerted school administrators who contacted company officials to address the situation. (We still don't know what went wrong though!) What if this had been the real FCAT?
Since teachers must sign a confidentiality agreement saying we won't read or reveal any test questions before, during or after the test, and since parents don't get a timely "answer key" to double check student responses, how can we be sure what really goes on behind the scenes? Instead of the vague report and confusing numerical scores sent out after school ends for the summer, why doesn't the state provide teachers and parents with students' actual test booklets and answer sheets so we can all see exactly what these youngsters did and did not do correctly?
Other testing organizations do this. For example, when teens take the College Board's PSAT in October, a preliminary form of the SAT, a few weeks later they receive not only their scores, but their actual test booklet, an answer key and a copy of their answers. They can see exactly which questions they missed so they can study to improve their skills. They can also log onto a Web site to view the actual questions and get explanations for the answers, too. Additionally, students get a list of specific suggestions on ways they can improve areas of weakness, based on their individual test performance.
Scoring isn't complicated, either; correct answers earn one point, omitted answers lose no points, and wrong answers lose a quarter-point. These points are totaled and converted to scores on a scale of 20 to 80.
My own two children, and hundreds of students I've taught, have taken the FCAT every year for the past 10 years. But I still don't know how much each multiple choice question is worth or how it's determined if a student has made a year's worth of progress! Do you?
As a parent and an educator, I value the transparency of tests like the College Board's PSAT. At least my students and I can see real questions and answers -- and even challenge their accuracy. But what of the FCAT? Why can't we find out the correct answers to all test questions in a timely fashion? Why are only some questions released -- and even then, long after the test's been administered? Is there a mechanism in place to enable students or teachers to dispute or challenge a test question? If so, does anyone know how to do it?
As tens of thousands of students hunch over their desks statewide next week to take the FCAT, I can only hope and pray the computers and temporary workers who will assess their answers are actually smarter than my 10th graders who are taking the tests. Unfortunately, even if they aren't we'll never know.
Nahirny teaches English at Matanzas High School, Palm Coast. She lives in Crescent City.
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http://tinyurl.com/2r5ol8