Parents and school officials in Leon County welcome the news of changes to standardized testing in Florida and say eliminating the English language arts test for 11th-graders is a step in the right direction.
Gov. Rick Scott said last week he would issue an executive order suspending the exam following recommendations from Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart. The halt on the 11th-grade language test is the right thing to do with testing set to start soon and with testing influx in the state, said Leon County School Board member Dee Crumpler.
“We’re all for accountability and everyone in the community needs to know how we’re doing, how our teachers are doing and how our schools are doing, but in my opinion the needle went too far over to the testing side,” Crumpler said. “Now we’re coming off that a little bit.”
The move comes after mounting backlash over standardized testing in Florida. The Florida Standards Assessment is new for 2015 and replaces the FCAT. It is the development of more than 100 standards changes in math and language arts adopted last year. The test affects school grades and teacher evaluations.