“It is not the critic who counts … the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena … who strives valiantly…” Theodore Roosevelt
It takes considerable initiative for citizens to respectfully yet boldly confront lawmakers. It takes courageous leadership for legislators to admit and correct costly blunders. But that’s what happened last week in Florida’s Senate Appropriations Committee. When lamenting the inauspicious beginning of the FSA — the newest iteration of high stakes testing in our schools — I heard senators use phrases like “this is a train wreck” and “we’ve got to get this under control, we’re losing credibility.”
Like most Floridians, I endorse high standards and accountability, but I’m concerned about over-testing our students, and distressed by the debacle of the FSA roll-out. Given educators’ hue and cry to beta test the FSA before requiring state-wide implementation, the unnecessary upheaval imposed on our students and schools in recent weeks is unconscionable.
