TAMPA — Florida school districts are ill-prepared to administer state tests this spring and should get a one-year respite from school grades, Hillsborough County school superintendent MaryEllen Elia told the State Board of Education on Monday.
Her comments reflect what other Florida superintendents have been saying for months, and they echoed mounting public concern over state testing.
Board members, meeting for the first time since anti-testing sentiment intensified this fall, did not respond to Elia. And state education commissioner Pam Stewart said in an interview there was little she could do to address the concerns.
Elia offered a laundry list of problems she and her colleagues have identified with the state’s move to new tests called the Florida State Assessments, and with the adoption of local exams for evaluating teacher performance.
