Why might FCAT questions seem hard to adults?
The Sunshine State Standards were implemented in the late 1990s during a period when educational reforms were occurring nationally. These educational reforms were driven by businesses and professional organizations concerned that students were not skilled enough to be successful in todays world. The primary goal of the reform effort was to improve the teaching and learning in public schools so that students were better prepared for the workplace or college by the end of high school. In 1996, the new Sunshine State Standards, with increased expectations for all students, were adopted. FCAT was developed to measure these more rigorous standards.In addition, students who take the FCAT are tested on information recently covered and practiced in courses at school. Adults, unless they use the tested skills regularly, are likely to be a little out of practice on tasks that are relatively simple for students (for example, the use of exponents).
