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Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test

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The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, or the FCAT, is the standardized testing used in the primary and secondary public schools of Florida. First administered statewide in 1998[1], it replaced the CTBS, Terra Nova, and HSCT exams.


Administration and Use

The FCAT Reading and FCAT Math exams are administered annually, in late February and early to mid-March, to all public school students in grades three through ten. Private and parochial school students are not required to take the FCAT; most of these schools administer another standardized test instead, such as the Stanford Achievement Test. FCAT Science is administered annually to public school students in the fifth, eighth, and eleventh grades. In the fourth, eighth, and tenth grades, public school students take the FCAT Writing+ exam (formerly called "Florida Writes!"); unlike the other tests, the FCAT Writing+ exam is administered in early February[2], so as to allow adequate time for scoring before the end of the school year.

Students' results from the FCAT are compiled to generate a rank for each public school under Governor Jeb Bush's A+ Plan. Under this plan, public schools receive a grade from A to F, depending on student performance and the degree to which the bottom 25% of the school has improved compared to its past performances. The higher a public school scores, the more funding it receives.

Promotion and Graduation

When originally introduced, students in fourth grade were required to pass the reading portion of the test in order to be promoted to the fifth grade. After passage of the No Child Left Behind Act by Congress in 2001, the mandatory passage was moved from fourth grade down to third grade, so as to align Florida with federal statutory requirements. In addition to the third grade requirement, public school students in Florida must also pass the tenth grade FCAT, not only in reading, but also in math, in order to be eligible to receive a high school diploma. These are the only two times that federal or state statute require passage of the FCAT; it is given at the other grades for the intention of providing diagnostic information, both on students and schools. However, many counties in the state have adopted other promotional requirements tied to the FCAT, but these are at the discretion of each individual county school board.

Options after failing the FCAT

A student failing the tenth grade test—that is, the test required for graduation—is allowed additional opportunities to pass it. Originally, students were given four more chances to pass the test after failing it in 10th grade—in October and March of both their junior and senior years in high school. However, starting in 2006, students were provided an additional test administration during the summer between school years, bringing a student’s opportunities for passing the FCAT before graduation from five to seven.

Also, if a student completes the minimum number of credits for high school graduation but does not pass the FCAT, he or she may still be allowed to receive a regular diploma. A score of 15 on the ACT or 940 on the SAT can be used to waive the FCAT requirement after the student has failed the 10th grade test at least three times. In any case, students in most Florida school districts are generally allowed the privilege of “walking” at graduation if they have met all graduation requirements apart from passing the FCAT.

Students may also transfer their credits to a private or out-of-state school. Several high schools in North and South Carolina regularly market in Florida on radio stations annually during the spring and early summer, advertising their 'service' that is available to 'graduating' Florida high school students who for whatever reason failed to passed the FCAT and were unable to receive a high school diploma, despite having excellent grade point averages and having completed all course requirements for a high school diploma.

Exceptional Education Students

ESE students are able get a Certificate of Completion, regardless of how they do on an FCAT. Those ESE students wishing to obtain a regular high school diploma may apply for a waiver, which may or may not be permitted, in accordance with their IEP.

Scoring

Scoring is typically done by machine to avoid individual bias as best as possible. However, parts of the, fourth, eighth, and tenth grade FCAT are written, rather than multiple-choice,and are hand-scored. Like several other standardized tests, the raw score does not directly reflect the final score; some questions are considered to be of a higher difficulty level than others and, therefore, carry more scoring weight.

Criticism

Despite the fact that the system is designed to reward public schools for excellence in teaching, many educators and community members have criticized the program, claiming that the program takes funding from schools which need it most. It has also been criticized by many students and teachers because the schools put too much emphasis on the FCAT and not enough on preparing students for the real world. The parochial and private schools of excellence, recognized under federal guidelines separately from state guidelines, and proclaimed as superior by the Federal Government, in fact receive no public funds and are exempt from requiring their students to take the FCAT.

The FCAT tests have also come under fire from education groups and parents for encouraging teachers to teach students how to pass a test, rather than of teaching students the fundamental material in the core subjects such as English. Another point of criticism on the FCAT is that all students of the same grade take the same test, despite the fact that different students are enrolled in different courses. To compensate for this, in many schools, teachers are directed to cover FCAT skills, regardless of what subject they are supposed to be covering. According to one Orange County principal, world history and physical education teachers at his school cover English FCAT objectives, such as "finding the main idea"[3].

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