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Mother will sue for FCAT materials
By STEPHEN HEGARTY
© St. Petersburg Times, A Largo mother is going to court after being denied copies of her son's FCAT test booklet and answer sheet. In a lawsuit expected to be filed today in Leon County, Palm Harbor lawyer Mark Herdman argues that under both federal and state law the test materials are like any other student record to which a parent has access. If plaintiff Betty Shields is successful, she could force the Florida Department of Education to make test booklets and answer sheets available to parents across the state. "That's not why I got into this; I just wanted to get access to my son's test," Shields said Tuesday. "But I know there are other parents who want to do the same thing." Shields' son is a Largo High School 11th-grader. When he took the FCAT last year as a sophomore, he didn't score high enough to pass the state's graduation requirement. He has several more chances to pass the FCAT before graduation, but Shields wants to know where he is coming up short. In a short letter to Education Commissioner Charlie Crist, she asked to see her son's results in September. Later that month, Shields received a short letter from the Department of Education general counsel denying her request. "The examination and assessment instruments comprising the FCAT are confidential under Florida law," the letter read in part. Shields had plenty of reason to believe she had a right to see her son's test booklet and answer sheets. Pinellas County School Board attorney John Bowen researched the issue after Shields approached Pinellas school officials. Bowen concluded that under federal and state law, the Department of Education had no choice but to make the testing materials available to Shields. Department testing officials have been moving closer to making test questions and answers available to the public. The FCAT has been kept confidential, but in recent years the Department of Education has made sample questions available. And this year several questions from the most recent test are available at www.firn.edu/doe/sas/fcat/fcatit01.htm. Many states already make their entire test available to the public. They include Arizona, Massachusetts, Maine, Texas and Ohio. Parents, teachers and students can go on the Internet and find the questions and answers from the latest test. The goal of the lawsuit expected to be filed today is different, though. Shields is arguing for a student record, not a public record. She wants her son's individual answer sheet and results. Other states have found that making test questions and answers public leads to to increased debate over state tests. Occasionally it leads to embarrassment, since members of the public invariably find mistakes small and large. In some cases, parents or students have found mistakes that resulted in questions being tossed out. In Florida, the pressure to open the test for inspection has grown as the stakes have increased. Last year's 10th-graders are the first wave of Florida students who must pass the FCAT to meet the state's graduation requirement. Shields' son is among 46,000 students statewide who failed to meet the state's graduation standard. They had another chance to pass the test in October, but they have not received results. They have four more chances still, but the passing score will be raised the next time the test is given in January. "It's important that Florida parents be able to see the test, because very few answers can make the difference between passing and failing," said Gloria Pipkin, coordinator of the anti-FCAT group, the Florida Coalition for Assessment Reform. Education Commissioner Crist said Tuesday that he could not comment on a pending lawsuit. "But I will tell you," Crist said, "that it's a direction we want to go in: more openness."
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