Standardized Testing for Graduation

[fafalone]

In Florida, we have a newly established standardized test that is given several times throughout K-12 education. The 10th grade test must be passed in order for a student to graduate. This has been met with protest, obviously from the people who cannot graduate only because of this.

The test itself is a rather rudimentry assessment which covers very basic reading comprehension and math from basic addition and graph-reading through pre-algebra, making passing it trivial for all but the bottom 10% in the state.

 

What does everyone think of making this test a requirement to graduate from high school?

 

I think the protests are completely off-base, because their lead argument is that people who fail teh FCAT have succeeded as far as meeting credit and GPA requirements; however I feel this speaks towards grade inflation in order to expedite unqualified individuals through the system, and not racial bias in the test.

Anyone who cannot pass a test as simple as the FCAT does not possess the intellectual facilities to deserve a diploma; and if this occurs more often in minorities, then the education system is at fault, not the test itself... or perhaps people should find something other than imaginary racial bias to blame for their shortcomings.

[Dudde]

yeah...I hate it when people whine about that stuff, I know my 5th grade cousin could pass the 10th grade test with ease, and most of the people who don't pass do so because they don't try, not because they're not smart enough (alright they're probably just stupid)

 

I for one think standardized tests should be upped to make America maybe a little smarter than the huge population of ...well let's just say the small population of smart people;)

[NSX]

Well, in Canada, there's a required Grade 10 Literacy Test needed for all students to pass in order to obtain their High School Diploma as well.

 

The test was divided into 2 parts:

Math & English

 

Personally, I don't really have any problems with it, but the problem lies in the fact that there are alot of immigrants to Canada, especially those whose native tongue is not English. Everyone knows that the Asian style of teaching is much more rigurous than the one in Canada (I'm not sure how the education system is in the states); so most the immigrants pass the Math part with flying colours. HOwever, when it comes to the written English Comprehension part, problems begin to arise..

[Bsun]

I have mixed feelings about the FCAT. I took it back when I was in 10th grade and passed it with ease, but I knew of several people who did not pass and had to take the HSCT (we were the last class of students who could graduate with HSCT instead of FCAT). Now, these weren't average remedial students, these were people who had GPA's in the 3.5+ range in the IB program. Personally I don't see how they didn't pass the test, but they didn't.

 

When I was a junior in HS I left the IB program to do dual enrollment classes at a local community college. Part of this switch meant I had to take a highschool health class with non-IB freshmen. Probably 30% of my time in that health class was spent doing worksheets that "prepped" students for the FCAT. I usually helped the teacher grade the worksheets and was shocked to see that more than 50% of the class was consistently getting EVERY QUESTION WRONG. All of these worksheet questions were very basic (graph analysis, reading comprehension, very basica algebra).

 

All that being said, I believe that there should be a dual method of graduating. For instance, if you didn't pass the FCAT but had a 3.5 or higher GPA, you would get your diploma. There are people in this world who are never going to be able to pass a standardized test. I don't think it's fair to hold students back based only on a single test, if they are hard workers and have kept a high GPA they should still be able to graduate.

[BPHgravity]

The main problem with the FCAT or any other standardized test is that no one can really determine how comprehensive it is is.

 

I am not as concerned with the 10th graders that are not passing the exam. These people do not need to enter our society and it is better that they remain in school for another year. My concern is for the poor 3rd graders that have to spend 3 hours a day on test taking skills, instead of actually learning something.

 

The whole exam concept is joke and needs to be improved. Grading schools and determining funds based on one exam has placed way too much value in it. One year a school gets an "A" grade, so next year all the parents move their dumb kids to that school. Because of all the dumb kids there now, the school gets a "C" and the school that everypne left is now an "A" school.

 

It has to be more than an exam that determines ones ability to "make it" in the real world. In my profession, I have known several highly qualified and skilled persons that simply are unable to pass a standardized test to obtain certification. On the same note, I know of several "hacks" that are naturally good at exams that are now certified that arent even remotely qualified. Many times these people study on how to pass the exam instead of studying the content of the exam.

 

The same now holds for FCAT grades. These student will be very good at taking exams, but can they think??????