Standardization and the Worth of Our Kids: It’s Simple to Understand!

Many students and parents don’t understand standardized test scores or proficiency levels.  This is disconcerting as those scores and levels determine in what classes a student will be placed.  For example, students who have not received a proficient score on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test or FCAT will be placed in intensive classes.  Let’s say Maria receives a non-passing score on her fifth grade reading FCAT.  That means the state has determined she is not proficient enough to continue on in her regular classes.  So, Maria is placed her in lower level classes or intensive reading classes.  We do this because it is mandated by our legislative body who think they understand how remediation should work.  Many of the members of this legislative body have never observed a fifth grade class and have absolutely no idea what Maria, her parents, her teachers and her administrators do every day.

Maria will struggle in her quest to acquire a passing score on her Reading FCAT next year, the year after, the year after and the year after.  Maria’s Intensive Reading classes will follow her into high school where she will continue to fail a test her entire academic future depends on.  In fact, Maria will most likely reside in Intensive Reading classes for the rest of her academic career.  She will be unable to participate in the electives she likes because Intensive Reading classes will be automatically chosen for her as her student id and failing score come up in our computers.  In addition, she will most likely adopt an attitude of a failure as her classmates in these intensive classes repeat the mantra, “I failed the FCAT again.”  She will feel like a failure because she does not fit into a mold designed by people who reside in state houses not school houses.

Perhaps Maria’s mother wants to find out, “who is determining the worth of my daughter?”  or “what is my daughter’s score based on?”  To get an answer to those questions Maria’s mother has to do is go to our Florida Department of Education website and search for this document:

Just look how happy that little girl is!

Once Maria’s mother finds this document, she will find the paragraph below:

Student performance on the FCAT 2.0 in 2013 is linked to the existing FCAT score scale through the equipercentile linking method. By this method, 2013 FCAT 2.0 scores were linked to 2010 FCAT scores at the same percentile rank. This linking method allows the 2013 FCAT 2.0 scores to be reported as FCAT Equivalent Scale Scores, which range from 100-500, and FCAT Equivalent DSS, which range from 86-3008 across grades 3-10 and show a student’s annual progress from grade to grade. On student and parent reports, the FCAT Equivalent DSS is referred to as the FCAT Equivalent Score, as scores on the 100-500 scale are not reported on these reports. Additional information about how the 2011 FCAT 2.0 scores were determined through the equipercentile linking method is provided in the document 20113Equipercentile Linking: FCAT 2.0 Reading and Mathematics, which is posted at http://www.fldoe.org/pdf/2011EquipercentileLinking.pdf.

I’m not sure what equipercentile means; my WORD program doesn’t know either.  In fact, I looked it up in the Webster’s Dictionary and they don’t know.   But that is beside the point.  The real question is, how is an everyday American parent supposed to navigate this document?  How is a migrant family who barely speaks English supposed to understand this document?

This document is confusing to those who work in curriculum. In fact, I sat with a woman I work with in education and we tried to figure out the way in which math scores were calculated and correlated between the two tests, FCAT and EOC (another standardized test for high school students) and we began to laugh because we could not figure it out. We are doctoral students and could not reach a solid conclusion on how scores will be calculated.

My own daughter is fortunate that her mother works as an administrator in this system and that I will be able to navigate the system well enough to ensure her success. But what about Maria and countless other students who have no idea how their worth is determined and who is making decisions that will affect their lives forever?