Some 2.2 million Florida students in grades 3-10 will buckle down for FCAT exams on Monday amid heightened and unprecedented security.

Determined to root out cheating at all levels, the state Department of Education implemented several new protocols last fall and expanded on them this year.

• Students are required to sign a pledge stating, "I agree that I will not give or receive unauthorized help during this test. I understand that giving or receiving such help during the test is cheating and will result in the invalidation of my test results."
• Seating charts must be maintained for each test, with students logged in and out for any bathroom breaks.
• Test administrators must be certified educators. Noncertified personnel may serve as proctors, but are prohibited from touching any of the testing materials.

School districts have warned staffers that violations of security protocols, which must be signed by all test administrators, can be grounds for termination.

"It's like being read your Miranda rights," said a Central Florida school employee who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation.

To bolster security, test-maker Pearson has retained Utah-based Caveon Test Security as an independent subcontractor to investigate any test score anomalies.

"They specialize in helping assessment programs enhance existing security measures and in analyzing test data for statistical evidence that might be associated with testing irregularities," said state DOE spokeswoman Jamie Mongiovi.

"It is part of an overall system designed to make it clear that Florida takes the issue of cheating seriously," she said.

The classroom seating charts are believed to be key to ferreting out irregularities in test results.

But Caveon has been under fire in Georgia and Washington, D.C., for failing to detect apparent problems there.

Mongiovi says the extra layers of security will "hopefully decrease the number of administrations that result in test invalidations, maintain the validity of our assessments and provide state-level accountability for individuals responsible for test administrations."

As was the case last year, any test-takers found with electronic devices -- including cell phones and smart phones -- will have their exams invalidated.

On top of the oversight, Florida's rebranded tests -- labeled FCAT 2.0 -- come with revised scoring scales and a few different types of assessment. New reading and math batteries were introduced in 2011, and a revamped science exam debuts this year.

In high school, the FCAT math test that was administered at grades 9 and 10 has been discontinued. Algebra 1 and Geometry End-of-Course exams are given instead.

Though FCAT results are still based on a five-level scale, the ranges have changed. Instead of a 100- to 500-point scale, FCAT 2.0 has a tighter 140-260 range.

"The [old] FCAT measured student achievement of the Sunshine State Standards, while the FCAT 2.0 measures student achievement of the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards, which are more rigorous grade-level expectations," Mongiovi explained.

She added that the old and new scales "are not comparable," which accountability experts say will make prior-year performance comparisons difficult, if not meaningless.

Another wild card is the number of special-education students "mainstreamed" into the testing pool.

Mongiovi said "nothing is different about the testing of students with disabilities this year," but district sources tell Sunshine State News that more such students are taking FCAT under expanded "inclusion" policies at their schools.

Students with an Individualized Education Plan can request an FCAT waiver, exempting them from passing the FCAT. But they must sit for the test at least two times before seeking a waiver.

The stakes, as always, are high for students and schools alike.

Third-graders must pass the reading section to advance to fourth grade. The requirement that eighth-graders pass the test was dropped.

To graduate with a standard high-school diploma, students must pass the reading and math sections given in 10th grade. They have multiple opportunities to do so by the end of 12th grade.

Campuses are graded according to their pupils' test performance, with the highest-scoring schools receiving monetary rewards.

Under the 2011 Student Success Act, half of teachers' performance evaluations may be based on how their students score on tests, which can include FCAT.

Traditional schools have something extra to prove this year, as a new DOE report showed that the state's charter students outscored them in 2011.

Although the study found that Florida charters had smaller percentages of at-risk pupils, a higher share of those students performed at grade level or better on FCAT.

State Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson said the report "clearly demonstrates that charter schools are a viable option for parents."



Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.