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Thursday, June 12, 2008

FCAT? F That!

My daughter is brilliant. Just look at her myspace page. It's pimped to the max. She speaks two languages: American Engilsh and 'Tween IM. She knows all the lyrics to every booty-smacking, gangsta' rapping top 40 hit. She's very musical, and she has an incredible ear. She can harmonize any melody, and once she hears a tune it stays with her. Her memory is solid all around. Multiplication facts, spelling words, Greek and Roman Gods, all the facts required of memorization and recitation are no problem for my girl. She can memorize lines lickety-split. In plays she learns her part easily and also could understudy any role. Her brain is that good. She's smart enough to recognize the sad irony in MTV's Flavor of Love and also to appreciate the timeless beauty in The Phantom of the Opera. Besides, only a bright thinker could convince two teacher parents that none of her seventh grade teachers assign homework, and then go on to negotiate a sleepover on a school night.

The state of Florida doesn't believe in how smart she is. Even though she made two hundred-plus point gains in Reading and Math on her FCAT scores, on paper she doesn't look like the clever thinker we know she is. She's smart in ways they can't measure on their standardized assessment. I guess when it comes to other kinds of intelligences FCAT stands for Florida Can't Assess That.

4 comments:

EJG said...

FCAT; Florida Can't Assess That.

Love it! I can hear Hammer singing "Can't assess that!"

MJ said...

I'm already fielding parent e-mails about the accuracy of scores. How embarrassing to say that 1)I don't have the data yet myself and 2) I can't see the test anyway. Too bad there is so much emphasis on this one test.

Cora Spondence said...

I love the new acronym!! I'll be sending Charlie Crist a link to your blog so he can buy a frackin' clue.

Liz said...

If anyone needs a second opinion on how awesome and intelligent the "Princess" is tell them to contact me. The things that really matter in life will never be measured by a test.