Ryan Dailey, News Service Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Saying the state’s system of standardized testing in public schools is “quite frankly, outdated,” Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced that lawmakers will consider a proposal during the 2022 legislative session to end the Florida Standards Assessments.
The statewide exams in English-language arts and math, known as the FSA, are given annually to students in third through 10th grades. DeSantis said he wants to eliminate the exams and move to a different way of evaluating students.
“We are going to be ending that, and we are going to be replacing it with progress monitoring, which many school districts are doing anyway. This is short, individualized check-in assessments three times per year. This will take hours, not days, to be able to do these assessments,” DeSantis, flanked by legislators, education officials, teachers and parents, said during a news conference in Doral.
DeSantis said the proposal would lead to assessing students in the fall, winter and spring, which would reduce the amount of time spent each year on testing. The state Department of Education said the proposed system will be dubbed F.A.S.T., Florida’s Assessment of Student Thinking.
The governor described the proposed system as more “nimble” than administering standardized tests at the end of each school year.
“It also informs teachers in real time during the school year, so that they can better help students. These progress monitoring tools will be customizable, it will even be unique to each student. It gives the ability to have timely data during the school year, so you can make the necessary corrections,” DeSantis said.
The move would make Florida the first state in the nation to “switch from end of the year assessments to state standards-aligned progress monitoring,” according to a news release from the governor’s office.
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Dozens of Florida schools — many of them online schools — initially rated "incomplete" by the state Department of Education now have official A-F grades.
As noted by the Orlando Sentinel, school grades recently became final after the deadline for appeals passed.
Of the 114 schools that received incomplete ratings when the state released preliminary grades in July, 76 now have letter grades. The grades are based on student performance on the Florida Standards Assessment, along with other factors such as learning gains.
A significant number of the newly graded schools are virtual education operations that were rated incomplete because fewer than 95 percent of their students took all their state assessments.
Among statewide providers, Florida Virtual School received a B for its full-time high school program and a C for its full-time K-8. K12 Inc. received a B.
Both K12 and FLVS came fairly close to meeting the 95 percent threshold, with roughly 90 percent of their students tested.
A third provider, Edgenuity, still has an incomplete. Updated state records show just 62 percent of its students took all their required tests.
Black suspensions: An investigation of more than 600,000 punishments in Pinellas County schools from 2010-2015 shows that black children are suspended at a much higher rate than in the other six large Florida districts, and four times the rate of other children based on their share of the school population. And more than half of those suspensions are for loosely defined offenses such as "not cooperating" and "class disruption." Tampa Bay Times.
Homeless students: More than 71,000 students in Florida public schools were homeless in the 2013-2014 school year, or 3.74 percent of the total. Orange County has about 7,000 homeless students, and Brevard, Seminole and Volusia each have about 2,000. Florida Today.
K-12 funding: State Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, wants fellow legislators to consider other options to boost spending for K-12. Gaetz has been critical of Gov. Rick Scott's education budget, which puts most of the burden of raising additional dollars on Florida residents through property taxes. Miami Herald.
Vouchers in courts: Several school voucher advocate groups are lobbying the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a Colorado case to determine the constitutionality of spending public dollars for tuition at private, religious schools. Many states, including Florida, have so-called Blaine Amendment prohibitions in their constitutions against spending state tax revenue on religious institutions. Education Week. (more…)
Charter schools. Duval school district officials find fault with a Charter Schools USA application. Florida Times-Union. Five charter schools apply to open in Manatee County. Bradenton Herald. A Sun-Sentinel column weighs in on the Palm Beach County charter school debate.
Catholic schools. Miami business leaders praise their alma mater. Miami Herald.
Athletics. A Miami-Dade drug testing plan stalls. Miami Herald.
Testing. More tests could not be scored in the this year's administration of state assessments. Orlando Sentinel.
STEM. A Pasco principal returns to the math classroom to stem a teacher shortage. Tampa Bay Times. A student's science and robotics success earns him a trip to Boston. Ocala Star-Banner.
Growth. Santa Rosa schools grapple with it. Pensacola News-Journal.
Nutrition. Palm Beach schools turn cafeterias into "restaurants." Palm Beach Post.
Uniforms. Volusia residents are close to evenly divided on whether schools should require them. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Testing. Legislative debates over testing continue. The Buzz. News Service of Florida. It's against the law for school officials to promote opting out, key lawmakers say. Gradebook. An army of zombie computers dragooned for as little as $50 a day may have been responsible for state testing disruptions. Palm Beach Post. The state should raise the scoring bar "as high as possible," a key state official says. Orlando Sentinel.
Accountability. The whole system needs a rewrite, Pasco's superintendent says. Tampa Bay Times.
Home education. The Tampa Tribune explores the growth of home education in Florida.
Overhaul. Orange County plans to close some downtown Orlando schools and rewrite attendance boundaries for others. Orlando Sentinel.
Transportation. Hillsborough administrators try to reassure parents after a bus crash. Tampa Tribune. Tampa Bay Times. Palm Beach schools tap a new busing official. Palm Beach Post. (more…)
Testing. State Senators debate the state's testing validity study. Tampa Bay Times. Miami Herald. Sunshine State News. State education officials answer critics. Palm Beach Post. Gradebook. Proposed cut scores reveal a racial achievement gap. Tallahassee Democrat.
Charter schools. Some Palm Beach charters see their funding for students with special needs suddenly slashed. Palm Beach Post.
Budgets. Key lawmakers don't like the fact that a proposed school spending increase would rely on raising local property taxes. Tampa Bay Times.
Growth. Manatee needs a new high school, which may house a special program of some kind. Bradenton Herald.
Transportation. Palm Beach bus drivers say they're underpaid. Palm Beach Post.
STEM. State officials scope out Sarasota science programs. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Catholic schools. A South Florida Catholic school revitalizes itself. Sun-Sentinel.
Testing. Escambia schools pare back local testing. Pensacola News-Journal. Scoring on new state assessments may be tougher than FCAT. School Zone. Gradebook. The Senate's education chairman says testing changes will be up for discussion this year. Gradebook.
Charter schools. Longhorn Steakhouse hosts a fundraiser for a Viera charter school. Florida Today. Answer Sheet blogger Valerie Strauss bashes Jeb Bush and Florida charters.
Failure factories. State education officials are investigating Pinellas schools' spending on their most disadvantaged students. Tampa Bay Times.
Graduation. Duval school board members debate limiting graduation ceremonies to students in line for diplomas. Florida Times-Union. (more…)
Testing. Florida's testing system is deemed valid, but questions remain. Politico Florida. StateImpact. Associated Press. News Service of Florida. Tampa Bay Times. Miami Herald. Sun-Sentinel. Sentinel School Zone. Palm Beach Post. Fort Myers News-Press. Bradenton Herald. Naples Daily News. Lakeland Ledger. Ocala Star-Banner. Gainesville Sun. Tallahassee Democrat. Sunshine State News.
Failure factories. The Tampa Bay Times tells the story of dozens of students in resegregated schools.
Jeb Bush. The presidential candidate bashes teachers unions for opposing school choice policies in a Townhall column. The former Florida governor visits a South Florida school. WPLG. WTVJ. WSVN. WFOR.
Growth. Sarasota schools plan to present their growth plans. Sarastota Herald-Tribune.
Social media. Hillsborough sets a new social media policy for student-teacher interaction. Tampa Tribune.
Dual enrollment. Miami-Dade students flock to dual enrollment programs. WTVJ.
Facilities. The official in charge of a Broward school construction bond quits. Sun-Sentinel. An A/C failure leaves Merritt Island students uncomfortable. Florida Today. The Volusia school board looks for ways to finance a new school. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Testing. State education officials investigate a denial-of-service attack on the state's computerized testing system, which may have contributed to delays. Times/Herald. Tampa Tribune. Orlando Sentinel. Palm Beach Post. Florida Times-Union. Fort Myers News-Press. Associated Press. Naples Daily News. Daytona Beach News-Journal. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks testing in South Florida and says the state needs to "get its act together." Sun-Sentinel. The Florida House advances its testing overhaul. Miami Herald. Scripps/Tribune. The Daytona Beach News-Journal covers students opting out of state assessments.
Rural schools. Residents in Alachua County's Waldo community say they are prepared to fight to keep their elementary school open. Gainesville Sun.
Labor negotiations. Meetings, paperwork and parent communication may be casualties as Volusia teachers forgo out-of-school work to put pressure on the school district amid negotiations for pay raises and better working conditions. Daytona Beach News-Journal.
Budgets. Alachua schools may cut back on elementary school resource specialists amid a budget crunch. Gainesville Sun.
Education reform. Education historian and ex-Floridian Sherman Dorn discusses former Gov. Jeb Bush's policy agenda and its implications.
