Test scores bring cynicism, hope

Some people fear flaws in the grade system. Others say improved schools sell homes and attract businesses.

By ROBERT KING

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 2, 2000

BROOKSVILLE -- Yes, there is rejoicing in Hernando County over the higher test scores and improved school grades that have been plastered across newspaper pages the past two weeks.

Yet, among many principals and school officials, there still remains a palpable sense of cynicism, even disdain for the very school accountability program that is the source of the favorable publicity being heaped upon the school district.

Deltona Elementary School principal Janet Dunleavy was as tickled as anyone when she learned Wednesday that her school had been christened as one of Hernando County's three A-rated schools.

But she is among the first people who will tell you that this accountability thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. "I think the grading system has a lot of flaws," Dunleavy said.

You might expect School Board Chairman Jim Malcolm, who is up for re-election this year, to eagerly bask in the glow of the higher scores. But in his most gravely voice, Malcolm scowls about the system created by a governor who belongs to his own political party.

"I've often said it's Jeb's test and who cares," Malcolm said Thursday.

The underlying theme behind the snarls is that there's something artificial about Gov. Jeb Bush's school accountability plan. It has been criticized up one side and down the other by people who say:

It doesn't yet measure how much each student has been able to learn in a year's time.

It gives no consideration to the fact that some children -- because of their family's wealth or stability -- are more ready to learn than others.

It incorporates non-academic factors, such as attendance, that are beyond the control of the school.

Its emphasis on scores from tests on writing, math and reading have led schools to focus on those subjects at the expense of art, music, history and everything else.

But, most pointedly, some critics wonder whether schools really are improving that much or if the better scores simply are a product of the education community's growing familiarity with the exam and the intense training of students in the art of test taking.

This year, the number of A schools in Florida more than doubled. The number of F schools dropped from 78 to four. Hernando County's schools were part of the parade. The county's school grade-point average climbed from 2.1 to 2.4, and only one of the 16 schools graded this year received a lower mark than last year.

"It's wonderful to celebrate," Malcolm said. "I just wonder if we are not teaching to the test."

Bush, who admitted to reporters Wednesday that such criticism is frustrating, has said that schools are simply working harder and children are learning. Even many naysayers agree that the letter grades and the threat of students in failing schools taking their tax money to private schools have provided added incentive.

Moton Elementary School climbed up from a D last year to a C this year. It improved so much, in fact, that Moton nearly earned a B. First-year principal Donnie Moen said he thinks the D label motivated his staff to work harder, even to the point of coming in for training after school and on Saturdays.

That's what Bush has said he's aiming for, to push schools to work harder and get better.

But even as her school enjoyed its status last year as Hernando County's only A school, Suncoast Elementary principal Tizzy Schoelles lamented the nature of the writing exam.

Schoelles said her teachers try to show children how to hone their thoughts into nicely crafted essays through the use of research, outlines and rough drafts. But on the state's writing test, students are given 45 minutes to write an essay based on a "prompt" that could be as short as a sentence.

So, according to Schoelles, the state is grading its students not on their ability to write well-crafted prose, but on their ability to spew out a rough draft on demand. Schools have developed strategies to help kids deliver, even though some criticize the methods as more mechanical than creative.

This year Suncoast lost its A, receiving a C instead.

Schoelles, ever pragmatic, is determined to succeed again in a system she's not fond of. "We're going to have to climb right back up there," she said.

Even as the internal debate goes on within the school district, people in the business community are becoming more aware that the school district is racking up improved test scores.

Most agree that good schools are important when it comes to selling homes, attracting new businesses and replenishing the work force. There isn't clarity about what it all means.

When he was president of Barnett Bank of the Suncoast, H.M. Shirley tried to get the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce to take more of a leadership role in the community, including the area of how students perform on college entrance exams.

Now retired, Shirley is well aware today that Hernando County has risen above the average score on the state's achievement tests, even nipping at the heels of some of the state's more prestigious school districts.

But Shirley says the school district should not concern itself with just bettering the state average or competing with big districts. Who's to say whether that is good compared with the rest of America, he said.

"The real world is grading students who compete in college and then for available jobs," Shirley said. "They're not just competing with Floridians. They're competing with people from around the country."

Still, some people sense from recent test scores that Hernando County's schools may be making real strides. Morris Porton, president of the county's Economic Development Commission, said businesses looking to relocate here always ask about the county's schools.

"We've felt very comfortable with our school system," Porton said. "But I think with these test scores . . . it makes it a little easier sell."

Wanda Kelly, executive director of the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce, said real estate agents have always had positive things to say about the county's schools to prospective home buyers.

But these days, she said, some agents are now offering up test scores for proof.

"The whole school system in Hernando County has really come around," Kelly said. "I think you can see by the numbers going up every year our School Board and administration are adamant about getting up to par."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.