TALLAHASSEE — A plan to scale back testing in Florida schools cleared its first vote in the Florida Legislature on Wednesday, winning the approval of the Senate Education Committee. Sen. Don Gaetz, a Niceville Republican and former school superintendent, said the bill would “place a lid on too much testing.” But the vote did little…
The Florida House plans to move quickly on its testing bill, leaders said Thursday. “We’re going to try to get this to the floor as soon as we possibly can so we can alleviate all of the stress and uncertainty in the field,” House Education Committee Chairwoman Marlene O’Toole said. Her goal: to ensure “the teachers can teach,…
With technology glitches hampering testing in major school districts, a Senate committee on Wednesday advanced legislation that represents the first significant attempt to scale back the scope of exams in Florida’s public schools. In a 7-4 vote, the Senate Pre-K-12 Education Committee endorsed a bill (SB 616) that would cap testing time at no more…
The House Education Committee conducted a workshop on its Draft Legislation on Assessment and Accountability. The draft bill revises school start date to allow districts to set an opening date as early as August 10; eliminates requirement to regularly assess K-3 students; repeals required remediation for middle grades students who score level 1 or 2…
In the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee: HB 99 – Juvenile Civil Citations by Clarke-Reed – AMENDED AND PASSED WITH A COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE (CS) Requires that law enforcement officer, upon making contact with juvenile who admits having committed misdemeanor, issue civil citation in certain circumstances. HB 493 – Concealed Weapon / Evacuations by Fitzenhagen – AMENDED AND PASSED WITH…
Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli is calling on lawmakers to overhaul the Florida Retirement System this year, something many observers see as an uphill battle because of continuing opposition in the Senate. Crisafulli on Tuesday laid out his agenda for the 2015 legislative session, including cutting hundreds of millions in taxes, improving the education system,…
The Florida Department of Education gave the all-clear to resume high-stakes testing on Tuesday, but South Florida’s largest counties postponed the exams as technical problems persisted for a second day. Florida’s testing failures instantly became fodder for state lawmakers as they opened their annual session. A pair of senators went so far as to call…
The troubles that plagued the roll out of Florida’s new computer-based test seem to be solved, and the state is confident the system can handle an increased testing load in the next month, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said this morning. “Today we are seeing the assessment respond as it is intended to respond,” Stewart told a…
For the second day in a row, some Florida school districts decided to suspend required testing because of computer problems. The Florida Department of Education told school leaders this morning that test provider American Institutes for Research had found and corrected the problems that shut down testing Monday. The agency wrote the testing system was showing “improved” performance.…
When the very first round on the very first day of computer-based assessment testing went down in flames at public schools on Monday, Florida’s Department of Education said it was because of “computer technical difficulties.” However, “karma” — and bad karma at that — is a better description for what went wrong. Despite the many…