Be more open on FCAT

Next month, the Florida Department of Education for the first time will release actual questions and answers for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Fittingly, this supposed milestone mostly is academic.

The FCAT is a high-stakes test for schools, which pass or fail under state and federal grading systems depending on the results. In recent years, the FCAT also has become a high-stakes test for individual students. Third-graders must pass the FCAT to be promoted to fourth grade, and seniors can't get a diploma if they haven't been able to pass the 10th-grade FCAT.

Parents sued the state seeking access to individual test results, but they lost. The request made sense; testing companies have made mistakes, and as testing becomes widespread, the likelihood of errors increases. In addition, some parts of the test, such as essay answers, can be subjective, and testing companies might not be able to hire enough trained people to produce reliable results.

Florida said that releasing individual tests each year would cost millions because FCAT questions no longer could be recycled. But as questions are retired, Florida now will make them available online and in printed form. Being able to look at sample questions and answers will be minimally useful for students and parents curious about the FCAT. Students and parents who suspect that their individual FCAT scores are wrong will just have to keep living with their suspicions.