Students protest FCAT graduation requirement

This article appeared in the St. Petersburg Times on April 24, 2004.

By REBECCA CATALANELLO

NEW PORT RICHEY - About 35 to 40 students protested outside Gulf High School Friday morning, angered over Florida's high-stakes test requirements for seniors.

"FCAT UNFAIR!" one sign read, referring to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test required for graduation.

"I failed the FCAT by one point," another proclaimed.

Lea Hernandez, 18, is a senior with a 3.5 grade point average. She came to this country with her family five years ago from Mexico, and she said her English skills are the main reason she won't be getting her diploma next month.

Though Hernandez took the state's reading test six times, she ended up six points short of the cutoff.

"For (non-native English speakers), if you're off by a couple of points, there has to be some leeway," said Melissa Dattoli, 18, a classmate and friend of Hernandez.

Though Dattoli passed the FCAT the first time she took it, she was so outraged by stories like Hernandez's that she organized Friday's protest - a display that ended a little before 8 a.m., when the first class bells rang.

"I would love to challenge the Florida Legislature and Jeb Bush to take the FCAT and give the public their scores - their true scores," Dattoli said. "Maybe they can get a good idea that it is not as easy as it sounds."

Language arts teacher Debora Foote also stood in protest. After watching Hernandez's struggles with the FCAT, she too wondered why there aren't more provisions for students who are learning English.

State law requires students with limited English skills to pass the test in order to graduate, unless the student has been labeled limited English proficient for one year or less.

Is it fair, Foote asked, that one student fails by one point and another passes by one point?

"The people in Tallahassee, they see numbers," Foote said. "We see individual students who are working really hard to try to achieve their goals. To fall short by one point is not right."

Asked about the complaints on Friday, the Florida Department of Education did not give a formal response.

Of the 40 Gulf High seniors who didn't pass the FCAT, five were learning English as their second language and 10 qualify for special education services, district administrator Bob Dorn said. The senior class has 272 members.

Districtwide figures showing how many students would not be graduating because of the FCAT were not available Friday. But state data released earlier this week showed about 183 Pasco seniors had not passed reading and about 120 failed math.

Gulf principal Tom Imerson said he has sympathy for the predicament of English learners. And while the school leader takes issue with hinging graduation on a test score, he has also observed that not many students take advantage of special tutoring programs offered to those who are trying to pass.

"I don't have a magic answer for the whole thing," Imerson said. "Because I like the idea of standardized testing and I like the idea of comparison, I just don't like the high-stakes (nature) of this."

Unlike the situation for English learners, special education students can apply for a waiver to the no-diploma rule.

Bea Palls, supervisor over English as a second language programs in Pasco County, said she shares the concerns over the FCAT. In a classroom, teachers are required by law to help students understand content, regardless of their developing language skills, Palls said.

By contrast, the only accommodations English learners are allowed on the FCAT are extended time, a flexible setting and the option to use a word-to-word translation book (that doesn't include definitions). In some circumstances they may have the directions read to them in their native language.

"I propose students be given opportunities to take the test in their home language," Palls said. "If they can read in their own language, it means they're literate. If we're looking for literacy, then that's a fair measure."

Seniors who did not pass the FCAT this year will not be allowed to walk with their peers during commencement, according to a Pasco district policy.

Students can give the test another whirl this summer, or they may opt to take the GED test.