GO DENVER!
German exam in French is all Greek to kids
Erika Hobbs | Sentinel Staff Writer
Students in a German class received a test written in French. English students had to wade through multiple misspellings and repeated material. Questions in a physics exam referred to an illustration that was missing.
These and other problems are popping up in the tests that thousands of Orange County students are taking this week to determine how much their high-school teachers should receive in state merit pay.
More than $10 million in bonus cash hinges on how well students perform on these tests, a situation many teachers find appalling.
"When you can't tell the difference between German and French, that is a pretty sad day for education," said Nancy Kendall, who teaches gifted English classes at Apopka High School.
Insulted teachers are protesting by refusing to give the exams, and outraged students are complaining.
"A monkey could type up a better test," said Denver Sangrey, a senior at Boone High School in Orlando.
Orange County school officials could not be reached Thursday to discuss the test problems and how they occurred. Reporters' calls were passed to five people, including Superintendent Ron Blocker.
In the end the district issued a statement saying "district officials and school-based administrators have responded to each reported issue on a case-by-case basis to rectify the problem or make adjustments."
The school district distributed tests on hundreds of subjects to juniors and seniors at the county's 17 high schools. Teachers were given almost three weeks to administer and return them, several said.
The sampling obtained by the Orlando Sentinel show numerous problems as odd as the German test with questions in French:
Although juniors study American literature and seniors study British lit, the English test for both classes is the same. The test is misnumbered and rife with misspellings, including the first reference to former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins.
The same test was given to four distinctly different classes in two grade levels: Advanced Placement Language, Advanced Placement Literature, English III Honors and English IV Honors. The test repeats a series of questions about a Romeo and Juliet passage. Eight of the 25 questions refer to a missing article.
The Advanced Placement Physics C test, given to seniors, includes an 11th-grade FCAT science formula sheet, as well as a periodic table -- useless outside of chemistry classes. Riddled with spelling mistakes, the 25-question test contains material not covered in many physics classes. Four of its questions refer to a missing graph.
Teachers told the Sentinel they found problems with tests for many subjects, including English, German, physics, band, pottery, jewelry-making and calculus.
"I think it's a shame and sad that our supposed leaders can't do any better than this," said Kendall, a 25-year veteran of the classroom who refused to administer the error-ridden tests she received.
District short on answers
District spokesman Dylan Thomas said he did not know how the errors occurred. The statement he issued referred to them as "glitches."
He said he did not know whether tests with problems had been collected or whether new ones were redistributed. However, some classes, such as German IV at Boone High, did retake the exams.
The tests are an outgrowth of the state's Special Teachers Are Rewarded program, an incentive-pay plan hashed out by Florida lawmakers last year. Previously, districts could design their own, but spottily implemented them.
STAR awards up to 25 percent of a district's teachers bonuses based on various criteria, such as teacher evaluations and student performance. Districts can measure student achievement with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, special tests for youngsters who don't yet take the state's standardized test, and specially designed exams for subjects not covered by the FCAT.
Most teachers opposed STAR as unfair, and almost one-third of the state's 67 districts rejected it. This year lawmakers passed a new plan, but they gave districts the option to continue with the old program this year.
Orange kept STAR but amended it to spread its $10.3 million allocation from the state across more of its teachers. It will give the top 25 percent to 35 percent of its 13,000 teachers a bonus equal to 5 percent of their salaries.
The district could have chosen free end-of-course exams from a state pool of more than 550 examples compiled by the Hillsborough County School District and the Florida Virtual School. Instead, it chose to design its own.
Orange's statement said that it worked with the teachers union, as well as classroom teachers, administrators and writing teams to draft 313 tests for 700 state-defined courses. It said that some of the questions came from state sample tests, but further details were unavailable Thursday.
No glitches in other counties
Other Central Florida districts do not seem to be having similar test problems. Lake County uses a combination of its own tests and some from the state's clearinghouse. The Seminole, Polk and Volusia districts use a completely different evaluation system.
Sangrey, who graduates this month, took two Advanced Placement tests for STAR, one in physics and another in calculus. He said he didn't finish the physics test because it lacked a critical graph mentioned in the questions, but that the calculus test "wasn't too bad." His AP literature teacher, he said, refused to give the class its exam.
"I think it's very unfair that any kind of salary or any deal involving money is based on a test so intrinsically flawed," he said.
He is also outraged. Sangrey and teachers alike say these tests are cutting into critical end-of-year class time. Sangrey, for example, faces four AP exams next week, tests that will determine whether he earns college credit for courses he took in high school.
"It's embarrassing to be part of a system where something like this can happen," he said.
Erika Hobbs | Sentinel Staff Writer
Students in a German class received a test written in French. English students had to wade through multiple misspellings and repeated material. Questions in a physics exam referred to an illustration that was missing.
These and other problems are popping up in the tests that thousands of Orange County students are taking this week to determine how much their high-school teachers should receive in state merit pay.
More than $10 million in bonus cash hinges on how well students perform on these tests, a situation many teachers find appalling.
"When you can't tell the difference between German and French, that is a pretty sad day for education," said Nancy Kendall, who teaches gifted English classes at Apopka High School.
Insulted teachers are protesting by refusing to give the exams, and outraged students are complaining.
"A monkey could type up a better test," said Denver Sangrey, a senior at Boone High School in Orlando.
Orange County school officials could not be reached Thursday to discuss the test problems and how they occurred. Reporters' calls were passed to five people, including Superintendent Ron Blocker.
In the end the district issued a statement saying "district officials and school-based administrators have responded to each reported issue on a case-by-case basis to rectify the problem or make adjustments."
The school district distributed tests on hundreds of subjects to juniors and seniors at the county's 17 high schools. Teachers were given almost three weeks to administer and return them, several said.
The sampling obtained by the Orlando Sentinel show numerous problems as odd as the German test with questions in French:
Although juniors study American literature and seniors study British lit, the English test for both classes is the same. The test is misnumbered and rife with misspellings, including the first reference to former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins.
The same test was given to four distinctly different classes in two grade levels: Advanced Placement Language, Advanced Placement Literature, English III Honors and English IV Honors. The test repeats a series of questions about a Romeo and Juliet passage. Eight of the 25 questions refer to a missing article.
The Advanced Placement Physics C test, given to seniors, includes an 11th-grade FCAT science formula sheet, as well as a periodic table -- useless outside of chemistry classes. Riddled with spelling mistakes, the 25-question test contains material not covered in many physics classes. Four of its questions refer to a missing graph.
Teachers told the Sentinel they found problems with tests for many subjects, including English, German, physics, band, pottery, jewelry-making and calculus.
"I think it's a shame and sad that our supposed leaders can't do any better than this," said Kendall, a 25-year veteran of the classroom who refused to administer the error-ridden tests she received.
District short on answers
District spokesman Dylan Thomas said he did not know how the errors occurred. The statement he issued referred to them as "glitches."
He said he did not know whether tests with problems had been collected or whether new ones were redistributed. However, some classes, such as German IV at Boone High, did retake the exams.
The tests are an outgrowth of the state's Special Teachers Are Rewarded program, an incentive-pay plan hashed out by Florida lawmakers last year. Previously, districts could design their own, but spottily implemented them.
STAR awards up to 25 percent of a district's teachers bonuses based on various criteria, such as teacher evaluations and student performance. Districts can measure student achievement with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, special tests for youngsters who don't yet take the state's standardized test, and specially designed exams for subjects not covered by the FCAT.
Most teachers opposed STAR as unfair, and almost one-third of the state's 67 districts rejected it. This year lawmakers passed a new plan, but they gave districts the option to continue with the old program this year.
Orange kept STAR but amended it to spread its $10.3 million allocation from the state across more of its teachers. It will give the top 25 percent to 35 percent of its 13,000 teachers a bonus equal to 5 percent of their salaries.
The district could have chosen free end-of-course exams from a state pool of more than 550 examples compiled by the Hillsborough County School District and the Florida Virtual School. Instead, it chose to design its own.
Orange's statement said that it worked with the teachers union, as well as classroom teachers, administrators and writing teams to draft 313 tests for 700 state-defined courses. It said that some of the questions came from state sample tests, but further details were unavailable Thursday.
No glitches in other counties
Other Central Florida districts do not seem to be having similar test problems. Lake County uses a combination of its own tests and some from the state's clearinghouse. The Seminole, Polk and Volusia districts use a completely different evaluation system.
Sangrey, who graduates this month, took two Advanced Placement tests for STAR, one in physics and another in calculus. He said he didn't finish the physics test because it lacked a critical graph mentioned in the questions, but that the calculus test "wasn't too bad." His AP literature teacher, he said, refused to give the class its exam.
"I think it's very unfair that any kind of salary or any deal involving money is based on a test so intrinsically flawed," he said.
He is also outraged. Sangrey and teachers alike say these tests are cutting into critical end-of-year class time. Sangrey, for example, faces four AP exams next week, tests that will determine whether he earns college credit for courses he took in high school.
"It's embarrassing to be part of a system where something like this can happen," he said.