Viewpoint: One mother's FCAT battle
at capitol
By Lara McKnight
*April, 6, 2006
(Note: to see video of
the hearing discussed in this article, see
http://199.44.254.202/archive/MBR/H_2242_2006_03_28_2709.asx. Consideration
of the bill starts 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 45 seconds into the video.)
I have dedicated myself to an unending quest for an end to using high-stakes
testing such as the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test to "label" my
children. When a friend sent out the call for someone who would share their
story with the House Education Committee in Tallahassee, I answered.
So, this was it! I had to find a way to convey three years' worth of tears and
stress and anxiety and meetings and tests and evaluations and phone calls and
letters into five minutes that would knock their socks off.
I didn't realize that my five minutes of fame were tied to a bill the Democrats
had put together aimed at taking some of the "scratch" out of FCAT fever
(HB-1427.) I don't care much for politics -- although I believe that many
politicians really care about what they are doing. I decided to appeal not so
much to the "legislators" as to the moms and dads serving on the committee.
"I home-school my son," I told them. "He is an FCAT failure."
I had OK'd my statement with my son before I included it in my monologue, and I
asked him to sit right behind me, so that they could see him.
After offering my son as an example of the negative impacts of mandatory
retention, threats and desperate attempts to re-shape his learning style, I
introduced my daughter, a 13-year-old honor roll student who alternately scores
well or poorly on the FCAT. The result of low numbers is a mandatory remedial
reading class.
Stress might play a huge factor in the discrepancy, I told the committee. As
long as she scores the right number, her teachers can pay their mortgages, the
administrators can buy new computers, even the janitors might get a bonus. The
Legislature just keeps adding more stipulations to what they call the
"A-Plus-Plus" plan -- just adding fuel to the fire.
Surely there must be a resolution to the conflict. I asked the committee members
to consider that a child is multi-dimensional -- that in determining ability,
they should include not only standardized test scores, but also classroom grades
as well as teacher and parent input. Then I thanked them, and I tried to sit
down.
But they had questions.
"Have you ever taken the FCAT?
"Do you agree with social promotion?
"Don't you think they're going to have to take a test sometime?
"Are you aware that the graduation rate in Florida has increased."
I had to stop them. So, I said something to this effect: "I am not here to argue
statistics or persuade you to do away with the test. I am simply attempting to
put a face on the people you hear about every day who are suffering because of
the negative impact of this test."
Then I compared the children of Florida to a jigsaw puzzle; each child has a
unique shape. To make the puzzle fit together nicely, you can trim the pieces
and make them into perfect squares. Then, the pieces of the puzzle will fit
together perfectly. But the picture still won't look right.
I don't know if I changed anyone's mind. My hope was to plant some seeds. I
figured they would provide the fertilizer! In closing, I pointed out my other
children: my son who, at 18, has always scored well on his FCAT and couldn't
wait to tell his government teacher what he had seen. And my 4-year-old
daughter, whose party affiliation was the "Slumber Party" for most of the
proceedings, but who represented the future of public education.
When it was over, I was just glad that my cape didn't get stuck in the back of
my tights!
Lara McKnight, who resides in Pensacola, is self-proclaimed as
the quintessential mother.
*Originally published in the
Pensacola News-Journal
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060406/OPINION/604060303/1020#
