Is state law making students feel less intelligent in school?

Is a state law making students feel less intelligent at school? That's what some students are saying, and it all has to do with the now-replaced Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test — or FCAT — and how test scores control a child's curriculum.

Aubree Weaver is a ninth-grade student at Freedom High School, in Orange County.

Her mom said she works hard in school — gets As and Bs — and also takes honors course. But Weaver is in remedial reading, and she doesn't understand why.

"We learn about simple things that we should've learned a long time ago in middle school like pronouns, so it's very easy, and I think I really shouldn't be in this class," Weaver said of being placed in the remedial reading course.

The course doesn't last just a semester, either. Weaver is enrolled for the entire school year and possibly next year, too.

"I did feel like I was being cheated because if I was in English honors, how could I be in a remedial reading class?" Weaver said.

She has no choice, though. Because of state law regarding FCAT, students with low reading scores on the standardized test are required to take a remedial reading course.

The same rule applies with math.

"They scored low on a state test in high school, and state law says you can't come out of that class in your entire career until you pass that FCAT reading rest," said Rick Roach, an outgoing member of the Orange County School Board. "It doesn’t matter if you're an IB student, an AP student, an honors student. Making straight As — it doesn't matter."

Roach said Weaver's problem is one he hears all the time. The classes are eating up the schools' budgets and eliminating elective courses.

For every remedial reading and math recover teach a school hires, an elective class is eliminated. The average high school has about 10 such teachers, which can cut into a school's budget by about $620,000.

"What it takes away from the kids is that they don't get to take a rich elective class of their choice," Roach said.

The situation could get worse when students take the Florida Standards Assessments this year. The FSA replaced FCAT and is considered to be more difficult.