Over the past year the Florida Department of Education has weathered criticism over the way it scored student exams, the resignation of a commissioner and now, the fumbled rollout of new teacher evaluations. The Department’s Interim Education Commissioner appeared before a Senate Education Committee Thursday calling it a “painful year.”
The scores on this year’s state writing test were so bad that state education officials voted to grade the test on a curve. The move comes after about 75-percent of students who took the test failed it. And as Lynn Hatter reports, those failing grades, coupled with the state board of education’s decision to lower the passing score on the test, have observers once again questioning the value of standardized testing.
Leon County School Officials say the steep decline in scores on the FCAT Writing test will have an impact on school grades. But they don’t know how big that impact will be. Lynn Hatter reports, this year nearly 75-percent of all students taking the writing exam failed it, prompting the state board of education to hold an emergency hearing Tuesday to reduce the passing score from a 4 to a three.
