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Perspective

Educator walks the walk, tests the test

By THOMAS C. TOBIN
Published November 5, 2006

THE TEST TAKER

Janet Clark

Janet R. Clark, 52, was elected to the Pinellas School Board in 2004, an upset winner over veteran board member Lee Benjamin. She pledged to restore confidence in the district's budget process and work to raise salaries, improve communication and close the achievement gap. Born in Honolulu, she grew up in Charleston, S.C. After two years of high school, she took the GED and passed. She worked at several Charleston restaurants from 1976 until 1993, when she received a bachelor's degree in special education from the College of Charleston. She worked as a middle school teacher in Charleston from 1993 to 2000, then moved to St. Petersburg. Before being elected, she taught students with mental and emotional disabilities at Meadowlawn Middle School. She has three children and three stepchildren. An avid reader, she enjoys sewing, music, crossword puzzles and learning about education issues.

Why did you take the FCAT?

It gives you credibility when kids talk to you and you say, "Yeah, I took that test too and I know what you're talking about" when they talk about how hard it is. Plus I like taking tests.

You like taking tests?

Yeah. I never had a problem with taking tests.

Was the FCAT more difficult than you thought it would be, or less?

The math was tough. I don't know if it needs to be as hard as it was ... The reading level is hard. It's not an easy test. I did real well on the reading. I only missed one on the whole test. So I was real proud of myself for that. The math was harder. There were things like the Slope-Intercept and things like that, if you remember any of that from math classes. The proportions and things like that, which I never was real good at. ... Any basic arithmetic stuff I'm okay with. But when you get into the Algebra II kinds of things - you know you really have to have algebra to do well on this test.

How is your algebra?

I flunked algebra the first time I took it. And then the second time I took it I barely passed it. I did take calculus and trigonometry in college but that was 25 years ago. So it's been a long time since I had any math classes.

What did you learn, if anything, from taking the FCAT?

It was harder than I thought it was. That's pretty much it. It's a tough test.

How did you prepare?

I didn't. I just decided to take it.'

Did you have any test anxiety?

No, I really didn't. I'm a good test taker. I've always been a good test taker. I took the SAT without preparing for it at all. I got my GED because I was a high school dropout and I just decided to go take the GED and I took it as soon as I could sign up for it and I passed it. So I don't worry about taking tests.

You have not been a big fan of the way school systems use the FCAT. Did taking the test confirm your views or challenge your assumptions?

One thing that surprised me is how straightforward everything was. I've always had a misconception that some of these questions were tricky. But they weren't. They were all real straightforward questions. No tricks involved in them. I think good test-taking skills would really help kids out. That's one thing I've always complained about is we spend so much time on test prep. But after taking this I can see why it's a good idea to prepare the kids for it.

Did you come to any conclusions about the value of the test?

You know, after I took the math part I don't know that if kids aren't going to college if most of those questions are actually useful. How many times in your life have you ever had to create a graph? ... You have to know how to read it and you need the background, but I don't know about creating one.

What was your score?

I missed one question on the reading out of 56. And in math, there were 60 possible points, and I got 49 points out of 60.... I know I passed. That's all that counted.

Are you pleased with your score?

Yes. It would have been quite embarrassing to have not passed the FCAT.

Would you do it again?

Yeah. I would. You ought to take it. You really should.

Anything else?

My daughter laughed at me when she looked through my test. She's in (Advanced Placement) calculus (at Lakewood High School's math, science and computer magnet) and she looked through it. She said, "Mom, I can't believe you missed these things."

The test

More than a decade after it was conceived, the FCAT is an issue in the Florida governor's race.

Democratic candidate Jim Davis wants to "end the use of the FCAT as we know it." Republican Charlie Crist has said it would be "an indefensible risk" to do away with it, though he might want to change some things about it.

The idea for the FCAT took hold in 1995 when a state commission called for ways to raise school performance. The test was first administered to many Florida students in 1998. However, the state did not use it for accountability purposes until 1999, when school grades were first assigned based on FCAT scores. Third graders who failed the reading FCAT were subject to being retained starting in 2003. In 2001, the state mandated that students who wanted to graduate with a standard diploma must pass the reading and math portions of the 10th grade FCAT. That's the version Janet Clark took.

Results of the FCAT often are reported as achievement levels, which range from one to five, with one being the lowest. Level three signifies a student has demonstrated "partial" success and is considered passing. The score required for graduation falls within level two. You too could take the test. Go to http://firn.edu/doe/sas/fcat.htm. Click on "2005 Released Tests." The site includes answer keys.

Sample questions

Here are three questions from the FCAT that Clark took (the math question shows her actual work).

What is the meaning of the phrase "deeply ingrained" in this sentence?

Driving is a deeply ingrained habit.

A. widely accepted

B. firmly established

C. tirelessly supported

D. vividly remembered

Janet Clark gave the correct answer: B.

What would be another way of saying "not loving the death of ugly and even dangerous ... creatures"?

A. accepting all forms of life

B. rejecting the idea of justice

C. understanding the nature of death

D. eliminating all threatening animals.

Clark gave the correct answer: A.

The drawing shows an empty sand hopper at a construction site. The upper part is in the shape of a right circular cylinder with a height of 12 feet and radius of 10 feet. The lower part is in the shape of a right circular cone with a height of 15 feet. Determine the volume of sand, in cubic feet, that will completely fill the sand hopper.

(Clark missed this one. She used the correct formulas -a series of them are listed at the front of the FCAT booklet - but she erred on the height of the cylinder. It is 12 feet, not 15 feet. )The correct answer is 5,338 cubic feet.

It started with a student's question: Why don't adults take the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test? \\ "I couldn't come up with a good answer for that," Pinellas School Board member Janet Clark recalled. \\ So she took the test herself. \\ On a quiet day at home about a month ago, Clark printed a copy of the reading and math high school FCAT from 2004, available on the Florida Department Education Web site. \\ She figures she faithfully adhered to guidelines, completing the test in about two hours. \\ After Clark got the results, she sat down with the Times to tell the rest of her story.

[Last modified November 5, 2006, 07:24:47]