Treating the Symptom Instead of the Disease

We have a problem in Florida schools. The FCAT, our flawed statewide assessment test, is tied to funding and so that makes it important. Students must do well on the test in order for their school to make a good grade and get money, honey. A lot rides on this particular test, which is sorta crazy because it's so flawed.

With this in mind, our lawmakers pass a law that acknowledges FCAT flaws - and then does absolutely nothing about them.

Go ask an administrator what the law means and they won't be able to tell you with any degree of certainty. It's supposed to stop schools from obsessing over FCAT, but we cannot expect that to happen because the importance of the test remains. You can't tie funding to one test and then expect teachers and schools not to react to that level of importance.

Kids will still feel pressure to perform, teachers will still feel pressure to prepare, and the FCAT will still be an inaccurate measure of what our kids are learning in school.

Fix that and maybe those banners will come down and rallies can be held for other reasons - like upcoming football games - instead of celebrating a high-stakes test that leaves us all with more questions than answers.