{"id":891,"date":"2009-02-05T06:58:15","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T11:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=891"},"modified":"2009-03-28T19:38:23","modified_gmt":"2009-03-28T23:38:23","slug":"insights-into-florida-science-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=891","title":{"rendered":"Insights into Florida science testing"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Campbell is a Florida Citizens for Science board member and was featured in a New York TImes article<\/a> about the teaching of evolution. Here on this blog I’ve been posting about a movement to eliminate the 11th grade science FCAT and replace it with end-of-course tests. (see here<\/a>, here <\/a>and here<\/a>.) David has taken the time to offer his insights in the comments of those posts, but his informed responses are valuable enough to promote to their own post so as not to be lost and forgotten. Here’s what he had to say:<\/p>\n

———————-<\/p>\n

The 11th grade FCAT is a disaster. It tests student recall in eleventh grade on material taught in 8th, 9th, 10th, and maybe 11th grade. It is a full three year comprehensive exam. It means nothing to the students who take it but does count on the school grade. Released questions have shown that the test includes some poorly written questions based on questionable application of scientific principles.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Smith floated this idea of end of course exams with the standards writers more than a year ago and has been pushing it ever since. The last I heard (spring 2008) the only request for funds for a high school FCAT based on the next generation sunshine state standards was for development of an end of course biology exam. The FCAT test development people have been marching down that road for almost a year now.<\/p>\n

Biology is the logical choice for the first test. All high school students take high school biology. In some districts various cohorts of students might not take earth\/space science, physical science, or chemistry in high school. The test is supposed to be taken at the end of the biology course. If a student takes the course in ninth grade he\/she will take the FCAT in ninth grade. Ditto tenth grade or eleventh grade. The test is supposed to consist of multiple choice and free response questions. The last plan I heard was for the multiple choice to count toward the student\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s grade for the course and failing the FCAT will mean receiving no credit for the course. That means students are accountable for how they do on the test. Free response questions would still be graded and count for the overall test grade but there had to be a compromise so students\/teachers\/schools could have part of the test results by the end of the school year to factor into the student\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s class grade. My only concern is the legislation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start date of school year 09-10 for the first end of course biology test. The standards and the course descriptions were written based on the assumption that the junior highs would have fully implemented the new standards before the high schools received their first class of students taking the new test. That won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen by next year.<\/p>\n

I have the feeling that part of the rush is due to budget constraints. Writing\/administering\/grading the FCAT is expensive and buying an almost off the shelf test from a third party ought to be a lot cheaper.<\/p>\n

I have seen the draft test standards for the proposed biology EOC exam and the evolution standards are assessed. Districts that don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t teach those standards risk lower scores and a higher failure rate. We still need to be vigilant for the closet \u00e2\u20ac\u0153teach the controversy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d AKA \u00e2\u20ac\u0153strengths and weaknesses\u00e2\u20ac\u009d AKA \u00e2\u20ac\u0153academic freedom\u00e2\u20ac\u009d teachers who will try to undermine the teaching and the external groups who will try to browbeat teachers who actually teach the standards.<\/p>\n

Next week I start two-three weeks of dedicated FCAT review with my International Baccalaureate eleventh grade students. It is time I can ill afford to lose but I need to review (read: reteach) the earth\/space science they took three years ago and I need to teach a full semester of physical science physics that they never had because they were on an accelerated science track that skips that course. An end of course exam makes so much more sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Campbell is a Florida Citizens for Science board member and was featured in a New York TImes article about the teaching of evolution. Here on this blog I’ve been posting about a movement to eliminate the 11th grade science … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-en","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1056,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1056","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":0},"title":"11th-grade science FCAT vs. end-of-course exams","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Orlando Sentinel education blog has a post up reporting that a group of concerned science professors is pushing hard to kill off the 11th-grade science FCAT and replace it with relevant end-of-course exams. We here at Florida Citizens for Science\u00c2\u00a0are also questioning the usefulness of the 11th grade science\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":97,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=97","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":1},"title":"Letter to the editor about science FCAT","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an interesting letter to the editor about the science FCAT: As a science graduate and education specialist teaching science in high school, I find myself along with other teachers arresting our science curriculum in anatomy and physiology, physics, zoology, environmental science and chemistry to help our students either\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Analysis\/Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Analysis\/Commentary","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1345,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1345","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":2},"title":"Science FCAT 2011","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Results for Florida\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s annual science exams taken by 3rd, 8th, and 11th graders were released today. The good news? Scores overall improved since last year. The bad news? The rise in scores is small, and 50 percent of our state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s students aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t proficient in science. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m tired of being a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "FCAT"","block_context":{"text":"FCAT","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1059,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1059","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":3},"title":"Op-ed: Is science education important to Florida?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this week I submitted an op-ed column to newspapers across the state on behalf of Florida Citizens for Science. Today the Gainesville Sun ran it. The Sun even ran a political cartoon with the column! A couple of other papers expressed an interest in it, but I haven't gotten\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1059#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1147,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1147","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":4},"title":"End of course testing attempt II","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Bills have been filed in the state legislature that would push aside the FCAT (including the science FCAT) and replace those comprehensive tests with end of course exams. That's a step in the right direction. The problem with the science FCAT is shockingly simple: \u00e2\u20ac\u009dThere are a lot of kids\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1147#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1061,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1061","url_meta":{"origin":891,"position":5},"title":"Op-ed noticed by Education Week","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Education Week blog Curriculum Matters picked up on my op-ed that appeared in the St. Petersburg Times. It's gratifying to see our issues getting attention! However, Curriculum Matters misunderstood one thing: Haught, whose organization was heavily involved in the evolution fight, argues that scores from Florida's science test, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}