In 2016, expect standardized testing reform to be front and center among the Legislature’s education deliberations yet again.
After an effort in the 2015 session eliminated some tests students have to take that lawmakers said were duplicates, state Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, the education budget chairman and former Senate president, says he’s going after even more.
It doesn’t make sense for the state to require students to take tests proving they have mastered a subject that has already been tested on a well known, national exam like the SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate, Gaetz said. A bill he says he will introduce would allow those exams to replace other mandated tests.
But he’s also trying to inspire more reforms down the road and make it clear to Education Commissioner Pam Stewart that the Legislature is focused on the issue.
