More Schools Earn Failing Grades As Florida Prepares For Common Core Switch

More Florida elementary and middle schools earned an F rating this year, according to preliminary public school grades released Friday. But the number of schools earning the state’s highest rating also increased this year. “The increase in the number of schools earning an ‘A’ this year is great news for students and teachers who have…

New FSA to replace FCAT

ST. PETERSBURG — Parents, teachers and public school officials are getting their first look at the new Florida Standards Assessment, and some are concerned with what they see. The Florida Department of Education unveiled a new website this week containing practice tests, test summaries, testing policies and administrator information about the FSA, which replaces the…

Check Out The Practice Questions For The New FCAT Replacement

The Florida Department of Education has released practice questions for the new assessments that will replace the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test next year. The tests, which are aligned to the new Common Core-based Florida Standards, are available at the Florida Standards Assessments website. Some questions are similar to what students might have seen on the…

Tampa Bay Times – Editorial: Listen to Gates on testing timetable

Bill Gates knows a thing or two about product development. So when the Microsoft billionaire’s foundation recommends that states wait at least two years before assigning high-stakes consequences to new Common Core State Standards testing schemes, Tallahassee should listen. Maintaining Florida’s already discredited school grading scheme simply for continuity’s sake makes no sense. A change…