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Sep 26, 2007 11:28 am US/Eastern
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Broward Schools To Put Less Emphasis On FCATs
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FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
Its time to get back to teaching and stop 'teaching toward the test.'
The Broward School Board has asked School Superintendent Jim Notter to explore ways to shift the focus back to teaching the curriculum while still preparing students for the yearly Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
CBS4's news partners at the
Miami Herald report for nearly a decade, public schools across the state have been graded on how well their students from the third through eleventh grades perform on the test. Based on their scores, schools receive cash and teachers receive bonuses.
But some teachers and parents have complained that in the last few years too much emphasis has been placed on preparing for the tests at the expense of a well rounded education.
"Schools do need to make sure students understand the mechanics of the test -- how to fill in their answers and provide written responses that scorers are looking for -- but students have come back to the district to say they didn't learn how to write except the FCAT way,' Earlean Smiley, who oversees curriculum, told the
Miami Herald.
Board members point out that repetitive drilling of students for the FCAT doesn't really help some students. More than half of Broward third graders who failed the reading portion of the FCAT failed it again as high school sophomores.
During the Board's meeting, Notter was asked to cut down on the emphasis placed on the FCAT, and reduce the amount of time teachers spend on preparing for the test with middle and high school students who have performed well in the past.
((© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this repo)