[ChrisA70]

Florida near bottom in ACT results - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

[Sweetbottoms]

Can't say I'm shocked. Articles like this only cememt my decison that moving back to New England will be the right choice for my daughter and our family.

[ChrisA70]

Originally Posted by Sweetbottoms

Can't say I'm shocked. Articles like this only cememt my decison that moving back to New England will be the right choice for my daughter and our family.

I agree. Our move is mainly about weather, but this just makes me feel a lot better and more confident in my decision to move back in 6 weeks to MA. My daughter just went to 6th grade, I want her to have the best education, and I know the New England schools are top in the country. Not all of the schools up there, but most...

[Sweetbottoms]

Yes ours is about weather also and just a slew of other things, what part of mass?

[Retiredcoach]

When tests like the FCAT are created through the mandates of state/local politicians with their own agendas, is it no wonder that when a nationally standardized is used, our kids falter? These state tests are the driving forces of the school curriculum, and as much as our state/school leaders would like to have you believe differently, teachers are forced to teach to the tests that have little real value beyond number(s) to deceive. One has to ask how there could be so many "smoke and mirrors" A/B schools in Florida, when the state test scores are on the lowest tier of national averages when a true standardized test (ACT) is used. Look on any real estate site and one can see that " high test scores sell houses", even when in the true scope of things, these state concocted scores are virtually meaningless.

[kyle19125]

This isn't news and is a by-product of Florida residents' willingness to accept it year after year. Until people either stop grumbling and living with it or throwing their hands up to flee to another state, it's going to continue. Interestingly enough two posts on this thread referred to moving to Massachusetts, which has very high taxes which help pay for their quality educational system. The amusing crux is the anti-tax bias of those who left high tax states and expect the same amenities without shelling out for it. Taxes are like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. If Florida hopes to compete in education and other services/infrastructure, it will need to move to toward a state tax system. If not, behold your paradise as is.

[bbronston]

I went to high school in NY back in the early 70s. Our curriculum was geared to doing well on the "Regents" test and the SAT. I doubt anyone would suggest that our schools were bad at that time. I don't think teaching toward a test is inherently bad as long as the test represents a wide range of subject knowledge. The problem arises when you teach toward one test but you are judged on the basis of another, different, test. I'd love to see a study that compares the FCAT result, the ACT, and the SAT result as a predictor of college success or, even better, life success. Who knows? Maybe parents are bowing down to the wrong standardized test throne. If anyone knows of such a comparison, please post it.

Schools are a big part of a student's education but the ultimate influence is the student and the student's parents. You can say that FCAT is the problem (and maybe it is) but kids from Florida go to the very best schools and many, many other 2nd and 3rd tier schools, after high school every year. If FCAT is holding them back, there are still many who seem to overcome the limitation.

[Sweetbottoms]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

This isn't news and is a by-product of Florida residents' willingness to accept it year after year. Until people either stop grumbling and living with it or throwing their hands up to flee to another state, it's going to continue. Interestingly enough two posts on this thread referred to moving to Massachusetts, which has very high taxes which help pay for their quality educational system. The amusing crux is the anti-tax bias of those who left high tax states and expect the same amenities without shelling out for it. Taxes are like anything else in life, you get what you pay for. If Florida hopes to compete in education and other services/infrastructure, it will need to move to toward a state tax system. If not, behold your paradise as is.

I think a lot of the residents (I'm speaking here for Naples ) don't want to contribute more because they're all retired. They'd rather have the lower tax rates than the better schooling. They're more worried about putting in a new traffic light at their neighborhood, or doing median restoration than putting money into the school system to better it. Places like Mass have higher property taxes yes and are also more family oriented. I feel sometimes living here I'm more of an inconvenience with my daughter than anything else

[JM1822]

I fork over a lot of money every month that I don't have so I can put my child in a private school. I have to work quite a few extra hours to afford it, but it is absolutely worth every penny. There are only ten kids in the class and I see the teacher and principle everyday. I can call the teacher at home on a Saturday night if I need to and I can talk with the teacher about my child's progress at anytime....without an appointment. When new kids come in, they are tested, and many public school children actually have to be placed in a grade behind where they were. They don't give the FCAT, so the teachers can actually teach stuff that the kids need to learn. As much as I would like to blame my child's great grades and intelligence on a stellar gene pool, I know that much of her success is due to the hard work and dedication of her teachers.

Private school was the best investment I have ever made.

[Ladywithafan]

Originally Posted by ChrisA70

Florida near bottom in ACT results - NBC-2.com WBBH News for Fort Myers, Cape Coral & Naples, Florida

Average ACT for the U.S. is 21.1

FL comes in at 19.6 and that's pretty low???? WT*?

that's less than two points.....I think 21.1 as an average of the U.S. test scores is pretty low....especially with all the money apparently being sunk into private education.