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Originally Posted by Miss Modular
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=1&u=/ap/20030519/ap_on_re_us/florida_school_tests
13,000 Fla. Seniors Fail Achievement Test
Mon May 19,11:19 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
NAPLES, Fla. - Nearly 13,000 high school seniors in Florida will not graduate as scheduled this year because they failed to pass a newly required state achievement test.
Some school boards around the state have voted to allow seniors who met all graduation requirements, aside from passing the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test, to participate in commencement ceremonies, although they won't receive a diploma.
But South Florida's black community leaders and legislators plan a protest this week, denouncing the FCAT as unfair to minority students. They want Gov. Jeb Bush to put aside the consequences for students who failed this year's test and re-examine the FCAT policies.
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The protesters are calling for boycotts of the Florida Lottery, the state's citrus industry and its major theme parks, among other measures.
Bush administration officials have said they won't set aside the results and the governor has criticized the protesters, noting that scores have gone up since the test was started in 1998 and minority students have made some of the biggest gains.
"This is a time to celebrate, this is not a time to boycott," Bush said last week.
This is the first year that seniors have been required to pass the test, which measures reading, writing and math skills, before graduating. Those failing are roughly one of every 11 seniors.
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What confuses me is that in general, the article says "13,000 Florida Seniors Fail", not "13,000 Black Students Fail" or "Only The White Kids Passed". Which part of this assumes that this test was biased toward the white kids? Which part did I miss in this article assumes that some questions would be easier for the white kids to answer? I thought knowledge was equal opportunity.
On another point, it says that a Hindi girl passed everything required by the state except for this test. Why was the test so different? If she is capable of passing everything else, but not the last test, why is race being brought up? Lots of people bomb finals, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with a racial question. Could someone clarify this? Was the whole article not posted? If not, why does race matter? And, what exactly would make a question harder for a minority to answer than a white kid? Did I miss the part where being black or Hindi automatically made a test harder?