Anyone have a good chisel?

We have some uncarving to do.

Imprint carved on system: F-C-A-T

LETITIA STEIN
Published December 31, 2006

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No governor has done more to change the way Florida students learn than Jeb Bush.

Or created more controversy along the way.

. . .

But the governor is best known for using a single, high-stakes test to reward or punish schools and crack down on social promotion.

Eight years later, polls show a majority of Floridians oppose Bush's decision to make the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test the centerpiece of a strict accountability system.

Bush defends the test, pointing to signs of rising achievement, especially among elementary students.

"The fact is that more kids are learning now, and we're not dumbing down the curriculum to have that be achieved," he said.

For better or worse, Bush transformed the education landscape in Florida.

"What he did is change the direction," said Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, "which is an accomplishment in itself."

Most Floridians know Bush's impact on public education by a four-letter word: FCAT.

"In 1998, I couldn't tell you how many kids were reading at grade level, because we didn't measure," Bush said. "We didn't consider it important enough."

Because parents, students and teachers had no idea what was going on? Come on now. . .

Now the FCAT makes or breaks many schools. It helps decide whether third-graders get promoted and high school seniors graduate. It provides a letter grade for almost every school, which determines whether it is sanctioned or rewarded with extra money.

Bush's accountability system has critics, including Hillsborough parent Sherman Dorn. He said his sixth- and ninth-graders are angry about wasted time preparing for the FCAT.

As a historian of education policy at the University of South Florida, however, Dorn recognizes Bush's political skills.

"It's this very ingenious way of capturing public sentiment," said Dorn, who writes about accountability as an associate professor in USF's College of Education. "Adults in the state think, 'Well, if I got grades, why not schools?' "

The FCAT's impact has gone far beyond school grades. Test results brought attention to the long-standing achievement gap between white and minority students. It forced schools to focus more effort on their under-achieving students.

Because, again, we had no idea that some (read: poor) kids come to school with tremendous disadvantages, that zip code matters, that some schools are haves and some are have-nots, etc. Riiiiight.

But some teachers and parents never bought into the system. They say it has created a culture of teaching to a test.

"We're going to look back at public education in Florida in 10 or 15 years the way that we look back at apothecaries who used leeches," said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach and a public school parent. "We created this high-stakes test that only measured a very few things and minimal competence and put all our eggs in that basket."

. . .

You've gotta love a good leech joke! :)

Read the whole thing and then, please, help me find my chisel!