State balks as more parents seek FCAT results

Officials plan to stall by appealing a judge's decision that a Pinellas man is entitled to see his son's test answers.

By STEPHEN HEGARTY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 4, 2002

Despite a judge's ruling that the state must provide a Pinellas County man with his son's FCAT answer sheets, the state likely won't turn over the documents soon.

The state plans to appeal, probably today, triggering an automatic stay until the appeals court rules.

"We believe the test security law protects the FCAT, just as it did . . . other tests given in the last 30 years," said JoAnn Carrin, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Education.

Parents are calling to see if they, too, could examine their child's test booklets and answer sheets.

Several parents called the state Department of Education. Palm Harbor attorney Mark Herdman, who filed the lawsuit seeking the records, said his office received at least five calls from parents.

"I expect we're going to see a lot of that," Herdman said Thursday. "Parents want to see their child's records. And they have a right to."

The state contends that it would be too costly to reveal the test questions. Carrin said it would cost the state an additional $16-million to create a brand new set of test questions every year.

Last year, 1.5-million Florida students took the test. The reading and math test is given in March to students in grades 3 through 10. A writing test is given in February to students in grades 4, 8 and 10.

Some test questions are made public each year, but not all. Parents receive a test score for their child, as well as some information about how the child performed in certain subjects. Parents also receive small written samples of their child's work.

With stakes as high as they are, many parents want more.

Students must pass the FCAT to graduate with a standard diploma. They take it in the 10th grade and if they fail they have five more chances to pass it before graduation.

The lawsuit began when a Largo woman, the late Betty Shields, asked to see her godson's FCAT answer sheets after he failed the 10th-grade FCAT. She wanted to see what he needed to improve and to ensure that the state scored the test properly.

The Education Department rejected her request, so she sued. After Shields died in November, the boy's father, Steven O. Cooper, stepped in as the plaintiff.

The ruling by Leon Circuit Judge Janet E. Ferris fully sided with the plaintiff.

"Providing parents or guardians reasonable access to such materials, especially where their child has "failed' the test, does no violence to the integrity of the testing process," Judge Ferris wrote.

In the ruling, Ferris got to the heart of the debate over the FCAT, a growing issue in the governor's race. She questioned whether the FCAT is used to grade schools or to inform parents of their child's progress.

"If, as the Department urges, the purpose of the FCAT is "to assess public education' rather than student achievement or preparedness," then there would be a problem making the test available to parents, she wrote. Ferris concluded that parents have a right to know.

"I think the judge is saying the political and economic concerns of the government shouldn't come into play here," Herdman said. "This test should be about telling parents how their kids are doing."

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