Florida's students are improving in history, as measured by standardized test scores:
About 86 percent of students taking U.S. history passed a new districtwide standardized test this spring. About 74 percent of world history students passed a similar exam. Two years ago, when the 100-question tests were first implemented, so many students were in danger of failing that passing grades were curved to the extreme — a student needed to answer just 23 percent of the questions correctly.
Administrators and teachers acknowledge that the high passing rates from the most recent exams were because they are getting better at "testing what they teach" — or teaching to the test. Detailed class guides show teachers exactly what points they must hit, and when.
"It's been met with some resistance," Palm Beach Central High School teacher Don Meyers said. "But you have to adjust. That's the reality of education in the age of accountability."
Yes. Yes, it is. It's a reality in a day where people are starting to acknowledge that it's a travesty when students who have taken US History can't answer 23 questions out of 100 correctly. And the details provided in the rest of the article provides clues as to why things might have gotten so bad.
In American history, teachers have one year to cover from 12,000 years ago, or prehistory, to the current Iraq war. It was easy for teachers to focus on one era they were particularly interested in and gloss over others.
12,000 years? I know they had to cover the Native Americans, but surely no one thought that any substantial percentage (more than 10% or so) of American History class time should be spent on the many, many years before America was America.
School board member Debra Robinson provided the impetus for the standardized history test because of her concerns that African and black history were not being taught. The test allows administrators to see whether teachers are touching on key areas.
For example, in American history, students did the worst on questions on the effect of immigrant groups and questions on political events in contemporary America. They did the best on multicultural questions and black history questions, getting an average of 77 percent and 79 percent, respectively, of those correct.
Well, then now we know what students need to focus on - immigrant groups and contemporary politics.
In world history, students struggled with the Age of Reason and the Industrial Revolution. They did the best on the Age of Discovery and, again, on African and black studies.
I'd say the Age of Reason and the Industrial Revolution are fairly important topics.
Still, Robinson said she continues to hear anecdotally that the black curriculum is not being taught in the detail it deserves.
Yes, but the data suggest that's not true. Wasn't the point of this test to see where students need extra help?
She's also concerned about the average scores on the tests. Although 86 percent of students passed the American history exam, the average score was 75, a solid C. In world history, the average score was 67, a D-plus...
"It's sad when you say 70 is good," Robinson said. "I think that shows what a pitiful state of affairs we're dealing with in general. The definition of pass in my house is a B. I won't kill you if you bring home a C, but I'm not happy either."
I agree. They may be passing now, but just barely.
Posted by kswygert at August 10, 2004 12:45 PM