Florida School Boards Association
The Florida legislature is poised to make sweeping changes to the state’s standardized testing system and to the way teachers are evaluated. The Foundation which backed the system currently in place, says it’s pleased to see lawmakers giving the system a second look. The Foundation for Florida’s Future says lawmakers need to revise the way…
After weeks of committee conversations, Florida Senate Education chairman John Legg is ready to take the debate over student testing and teacher evaluations to the next level. Legg is filing a bill today that tackles concerns and complaints he and colleagues have heard from educators and parents over the past several weeks and months. The…
Florida debuts a new standardized test for students next month, in a year when testing is a hot-button issuein public education. The Florida Standards Assessment is expected to be tougher than its predecessor, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Uncertainty about the new exams has stressed out many because results will be used to judge students,…
Education Commissioner Pam Stewart says students can not skip state-required tests, and teachers and schools can be punished for refusing to administer required exams. Stewart’s letter is a response to questions from Senators as they prepare for the upcoming legislative session. Senators wanted to know if students could opt out of state-required exams and how…
Lots of people think there’s too much testing going on in schools right now. It’s one of the most contentious issues in education. Lawmakers want to scale back the amount of time Florida students spend taking tests. But at the same time, Florida is rolling out a new test tied to new math and language…
Darcey Addo practiced with her son, Sammy, after dinner and again before school, coaching him on what to say. She had kept Sammy home during a district reading test earlier this month, and wanted him to be prepared when he was asked to take a make-up exam. She gave Sammy a letter explaining her decision…
Close your eyes for a minute and daydream about a world without bubble tests. Education Week recently reported that some Republican Senate aides are doing more than dreaming — they’re drafting a bill that would eliminate the federal mandate on standardized testing. Annual tests for every child in reading and math in grades 3 through 8,…
State senators had a laundry list of questions for Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart last week. They aren’t done yet. On Tuesday, Sens. Don Gaetz, Bill Montford and John Legg sent Stewart six pages of follow-up questions. “We appreciate your willingness to discuss these issues fully and candidly and to engage senators on a very specific level,” the…
When lawmakers return to Tallahassee in March for the annual legislative session, they have a lot of questions they need to answer about public school testing. Senators laid out their concerns about the state testing system last week at a series of meetings. They don’t know how many tests the state requires, or how long…
Candidates mouthed the words “education” a lot in 2014, but it was not a decisive election issue. Still, against the odds, 2015 might be the year the Florida Department of Education makes a sincere effort to make its testing policies reasonable. There has been legitimate concern that Rick Scott, safe in his second term and…