The state Board of Education won't allow seniors who fail the FCAT to get diplomas by using other test scores.
By STEPHEN HEGARTY and LUCY MORGAN
Published June 18, 2003
ORLANDO - Saying it would not buckle to pressure, the Florida Board of Education refused Tuesday to let high school seniors who failed the FCAT earn a diploma by substituting a different test score.
"I don't want to leave the impression that we're going to compromise or appease the opposition," said board member T. Willard Fair.
Fair was referring to a group of South Florida lawmakers and community activists who are fighting the state requirement that students pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test in order to graduate.
About 13,000 high school seniors statewide failed the FCAT this year despite six chances, and were denied a standard diploma. The proposal under discussion would have allowed them to substitute a suitable score on the SAT or ACT college entrance exams.
In a 5-1 vote, the board rejected that idea. Some thought the suggested SAT and ACT scores were embarrassingly low.
But their vote may not be the final word.
A few hours after the board meeting ended, the state House voted 111-2 to approve a bill that would allow exactly what the education panel had just repudiated.
The bill authorizes state Education Commissioner Jim Horne to compare the FCAT test with college placement exams and approve their use in place of the FCAT.
A similar bill is pending in the Senate, but it could overturn the board's vote and allow alternative exams for this year's seniors, said sponsor Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami.
State officials said only about 400 of the 13,000 students who failed the FCAT this year scored high enough on either the SAT or ACT to qualify for a diploma.
The standard isn't high: A passing score on the FCAT reading test equates to a 370 on the SAT. A passing score on the FCAT math test equates to a 350.
The highest possible SAT score for each section is an 800. High school graduates generally need a combined SAT score of well above 1,000 to get into a Florida university.
Julia Johnson, the only Board of Education member to vote yes on the proposal, said it shouldn't matter how low the SAT or ACT score is as long as it equates to the FCAT passing score.
"If you have a problem with the level," Johnson said, "you have a problem where we set the FCAT."
Johnson said her vote had nothing to do with the anti-FCAT backlash. She has been an outspoken defender of the FCAT, appearing on national television to counter FCAT opponents.
But she said the state's test is not the only way to measure a student's knowledge.
"The FCAT is not the Holy Grail," Johnson said. "I'm not afraid of other measures being used."
One of the factors driving the FCAT opposition is the perception that a disproportionate number of the failing students are minorities. That clearly has resonated with state officials.
Shortly after the number of failures was announced, the state decided to lower the passing score to an older standard, saying it was more fair and consistent. That enabled another 1,000 students to get their standard diploma.
Even Gov. Jeb Bush, who appoints the education board and has previously rejected the idea of FCAT alternatives, now supports the idea as long as it didn't lower standards.
"It just provides another option," he said. "It eliminates the argument that somehow the FCAT has got some weird bias to it that makes it impossible to do well."
Horne said he had mixed feelings about the proposal. Though he recommended the change in deference to the Legislature, he saw several flaws.
For one thing, he feared that students who take the SAT early and get a decent score would not try their hardest on the FCAT in the 10th grade.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
