Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Budget cuts have hit the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test again.

On Tuesday, the Florida Department of Education announced it would eliminate all FCAT summer retakes and a portion of the science FCAT. Sample test materials also will be eliminated and schools will no longer receive printed score reports.

“As you are aware, all aspects of education are facing budget reductions, and the statewide assessment program is no different,” Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith wrote in a letter to school superintendents.

In November, the state made about $18 million in cuts to the statewide assessment program. It discontinued the FCAT Parent Network that allows parents to look up their kids’ scores on the Internet, eliminated 10th-grade FCAT retakes and is not placing sticker seals on certain test documents.

Students need to pass the reading and math sections of the 10th-grade FCAT to graduate high school with a standard diploma.

Last April, the state cut the multiple choice portion of the FCAT writing test at a cost-savings of $2.5 million and the norm-reference test — which compared Florida students to their peers across the nation.

In Smith’s memo “Changes to FCAT in 2009 and Beyond,” he wrote that no changes were being made to the 2010 FCAT reading and math tests and that the writing test would be administered in February and reading, math and science would be administered in March.

When the new FCAT is implemented in 2011, testing will be later in the year and performance tasks or constructed-response questions will not be included, leading to faster turn-around time and an easier transition to computer-based tests, Smith wrote.

There are also changes to end-of-course exams, said Cynthia Rountree, director of instructional support for the Indian River County School District. Because all end-of-course exams will be computer-based, beginning with algebra in 2010-2011, districts will need to ensure they have the proper computer hardware in place.

Rountree said Indian River is in a good position with the needed computers for the online assessment. This year, the district initiated an online benchmark assessment for elementary students, Rountree said.

“We’ve always felt this (was) coming,” she said.

Kelly Tyko, TCPalm.com
Staff writer Colleen Wixon contributed to this report.

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Tags: budget, children, cuts, fcat, Florida, reading, Schools, science, students

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