If Students Can't Pass--Lower the Passing Score

For those of you who missed it, Florida's Department of Education decided to lower the state writing exam  passing score when just over a quarter of fourth graders  could pass the test. Sounds like either the department is dumb or the students did not know what they were supposed to do.

We think it is the latter. In all its wisdom, the "education department" asked fourth graders to write "what happens on a camel ride."  Now, we don't know how many of adults have ridden  a camel but our suspicions would be that not many. How is a nine or ten year old to know?  Now if it was a horse, maybe, and even then it might take some "imagination" to complete the task. We say "camel-pucky."  This has to be the most stupid thing a child could be asked to write about.  It does not test the child's ability to write.

However, this is what you get when "educators" don't use the large hair covered pimple on their shoulders. No one stopped to think about the question and we would assume that someone thought it was really cute. Hey, they have camels all over Florida, right?

We believe that ALL departments of education at the national and state levels should be eliminated and the responsibility of education of the children should be left with the local school board.  At least at that level, parents can have some ability to influence decisions and to make changes that will effect their children. When edicts are passed down by these far removed bureaucracies, we get these out of touch tests and only poor results.


Conservative Tom

Florida lowers passing grade for state writing exam after over 70 percent of fourth-graders fail

Published May 16, 2012

FoxNews.com

The Florida Department of Education lowered the performance level standard on a state writing exam after only 27 percent of fourth graders passed, MyFoxOrlando reports.

The decision to lower the standard from a four to a three was made in an emergency conference call Tuesday. The test scores range from zero to six.

Fourth grade teachers say the test inadequately reflected their pupils' writing abilities. They say the main reason the students did poorly was the test question was too hard.

According to the Florida Department of Education, the prompt, or essay topic, for fourth graders in the state of Florida this year was, "Suppose you or someone else had a chance to ride a camel. Imagine what happens on this camel ride. Write a story about what happens on this camel ride."

Some teachers say the question was unfair, arguing it may be unrealistic to expect fourth-graders to know what a camel is.

"It was just a very poor prompt, when do we see camels in Central Florida," said Ann Egitto, a language arts teacher at Rock Lake Middle School according to MyFoxOrlando.

Lisa Wright, a teacher at Idyllwilde Elementary School, agrees. "A lot fourth graders in my school probably don't even know what a camel really is," she said according to MyFoxOrlando. 

However, the Department of Education told MyFoxOrlando the question was extensively reviewed and well-received by about 1,500 students who were selected to take it during a field-testing period.

They admitted they could have done a better job communicating student expectations to teachers after lowering the passing grade.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/16/florida-lowers-passing-grade-for-state-writing-exam-after-over-70-percent/?test=latestnews#ixzz1v9IhZ1GA