To: The Florida State House, The Florida State Senate, and Governor Ron DeSantis
Failing Educational System
As a life-long resident of Miami-Dade County, I find myself completely appalled by the direction in which the educational system is heading. I have been a firm supporter of the public educational system for countless years, but in light of recent legislative changes, I find myself looking upon this deeply flawed system with sheer dissatisfaction. This state’s government, like several others, has become so dependent upon standardized tests and data to determine the success of its students that it is failing thousands of pupils and telling them, in a sense, that the hard work they put in all year round is mediocre, thereby stifling the future of our great state of Florida.
Today, I accompanied my child to his Senior High School, where he has just completed his freshman year. All year long, my student has worked diligently to succeed in the Algebra I course he was enrolled in. He worked hard in class, attended tutoring sessions outside of school, and studied and practiced even more at home, where I required efforts no less than his best. Though he succeeded in passing the class, my child was told that he would not receive credit because he, along with a reported 41% of students across the state, failed the state’s newly mandated end-of-course exam, thereby causing him to lose the credit he’d earned by striving for success each day.
This year, I spent hours looking over my son’s math work to help him understand the concepts he struggled with. He has demonstrated perseverance through every challenge. In speaking to him after the exam, I learned that very little of the information he learned throughout the school year was even on the exam. He was inadequately prepared by the very people that intended to help him. To be told that he could not pass the class due to failing a single end-of-course exam held on a single day is quite absurd. How can a child that has worked diligently to meet the expectations of the instructor all year long ultimately fail because of a single test? Surely, this isn’t best practices. Even the most prestigious colleges and universities our nation has to offer calculate a summative assessment as a percentage of a student’s overall grade, not one test being the end all and be all.
Since the inception of the FCAT, students throughout our state have carried a tremendous load of pressure, as the assessment has come to determine whether or not a student, at particular grade levels, will succeed and pass or fail, causing them to be retained. While I am all for accountability and students displaying efforts to show their growth each year, I strongly disagree with the ideology that a student’s overall yearly progress may be demonstrated and measured by a multiple choice/gridded response test given in just two days (one half-day per session, two sessions of math). Surely, as professionals in the field, you are all familiar with and understand researcher Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory. We, as human beings, do not all learn the same concepts in the same manner. Likewise, how could one expect for students to perform successfully showing their understanding of information if they cannot demonstrate their comprehension in a way that is relevant to them?
According to the Florida Department of Education’s website, the mission of this state’s educational system is “to increase the proficiency of all students within one seamless, efficient system, by providing them with the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills through learning opportunities and research valued by students, parents, and communities, and to maintain an accountability system that measures student progress toward the following goals:
• Highest student achievement
• Seamless articulation and maximum access
• Skilled workforce and economic development
• Quality efficient services”
With such an eloquent and intricate mission that seems to desire to instill in each of its students the idea that they, too, can become thoughtful, productive, contributing members of society, how could any person or committee choose to leave such measurements in the hands of a single test? What good, after all, is any test that is so overemphasized that it tells generations of pupils that their efforts simply aren’t sufficient or determines how much a teacher is compensated for their tireless efforts—with little regard to dozens of other influences outside their control? What validity is there when lawmakers can simply change the cutoff scores to finagle the public into believing that more students actually met the marks than originally reported? In this case, leaving no child behind has become a mockery in and of itself.
Creating summative assessments that are worth a percentage (say…30/35%) of a total grade for the year is understandable, but when a single exam has 100% weight and determines if a student will ultimately pass or fail, something is wrong. Now there are two major obstacles that students must face, two pressure...
Today, I accompanied my child to his Senior High School, where he has just completed his freshman year. All year long, my student has worked diligently to succeed in the Algebra I course he was enrolled in. He worked hard in class, attended tutoring sessions outside of school, and studied and practiced even more at home, where I required efforts no less than his best. Though he succeeded in passing the class, my child was told that he would not receive credit because he, along with a reported 41% of students across the state, failed the state’s newly mandated end-of-course exam, thereby causing him to lose the credit he’d earned by striving for success each day.
This year, I spent hours looking over my son’s math work to help him understand the concepts he struggled with. He has demonstrated perseverance through every challenge. In speaking to him after the exam, I learned that very little of the information he learned throughout the school year was even on the exam. He was inadequately prepared by the very people that intended to help him. To be told that he could not pass the class due to failing a single end-of-course exam held on a single day is quite absurd. How can a child that has worked diligently to meet the expectations of the instructor all year long ultimately fail because of a single test? Surely, this isn’t best practices. Even the most prestigious colleges and universities our nation has to offer calculate a summative assessment as a percentage of a student’s overall grade, not one test being the end all and be all.
Since the inception of the FCAT, students throughout our state have carried a tremendous load of pressure, as the assessment has come to determine whether or not a student, at particular grade levels, will succeed and pass or fail, causing them to be retained. While I am all for accountability and students displaying efforts to show their growth each year, I strongly disagree with the ideology that a student’s overall yearly progress may be demonstrated and measured by a multiple choice/gridded response test given in just two days (one half-day per session, two sessions of math). Surely, as professionals in the field, you are all familiar with and understand researcher Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory. We, as human beings, do not all learn the same concepts in the same manner. Likewise, how could one expect for students to perform successfully showing their understanding of information if they cannot demonstrate their comprehension in a way that is relevant to them?
According to the Florida Department of Education’s website, the mission of this state’s educational system is “to increase the proficiency of all students within one seamless, efficient system, by providing them with the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skills through learning opportunities and research valued by students, parents, and communities, and to maintain an accountability system that measures student progress toward the following goals:
• Highest student achievement
• Seamless articulation and maximum access
• Skilled workforce and economic development
• Quality efficient services”
With such an eloquent and intricate mission that seems to desire to instill in each of its students the idea that they, too, can become thoughtful, productive, contributing members of society, how could any person or committee choose to leave such measurements in the hands of a single test? What good, after all, is any test that is so overemphasized that it tells generations of pupils that their efforts simply aren’t sufficient or determines how much a teacher is compensated for their tireless efforts—with little regard to dozens of other influences outside their control? What validity is there when lawmakers can simply change the cutoff scores to finagle the public into believing that more students actually met the marks than originally reported? In this case, leaving no child behind has become a mockery in and of itself.
Creating summative assessments that are worth a percentage (say…30/35%) of a total grade for the year is understandable, but when a single exam has 100% weight and determines if a student will ultimately pass or fail, something is wrong. Now there are two major obstacles that students must face, two pressure...
Why is this important?
This petition is about Floridas failing educational system being lead by legislators, as opposted to educators who better understand the needs of our students.