The House Schools and Learning Council has unanimously approved a proposal that would make several changes to Florida's curriculum standards, including a prohibition on scrapping the curriculum to teach kids test-taking skills.

PCB SLC 08-01 would move the state toward end-of-course exams for high school students. It would require a social studies FCAT test. It would require that curriculum goals be aligned by subject and by grade level.

And it would require school districts to stop "teaching to the test," something that many people have argued can't be done because the FCAT only tests knowledge. But many districts have become ensconced in "FCAT frenzy," so much so that the Broward school superintendent recently banned the practice.

Council members spoke in full support, although Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, urged her colleagues to hash out a better definition of "teaching to the test" as the bill moves to the floor. After all, she noted, there might be a set of skills that a student needs to succeed in school and life, as well as the FCAT, and the schools should not deny that information.