‘High-stakes testing’ in Florida schools eliminated
What critics have come to call “high-stakes testing” is no more in Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1048 earlier this week, which will replace the Florida Standards Assessments with progress monitoring, a measure the School District of Lee County has been doing for many years.
“While much of the country has struggled to even open schools, Florida’s education leaders are continuing to push ahead and better help students, parents and teachers to close achievement gaps,” DeSantis said in a prepared statement. “In three years, we have eliminated Common Core, invested approximately $2 billion to increase teacher pay, focused on literacy and created civic standards that empower our students to become great citizens. By signing this bill, we are setting an example for the nation.”
The legislation, which makes Florida the first state in the nation to transition to a progress-monitoring system for school accountability, was sponsored by Sen. Manny Diaz, Jr., R-District 36, and Rep. Rene Plasencia, R- District 50. Students will no longer take end-of-year, high stakes testing for English Language Arts and mathematics beginning in the 2022-2023 school year. School grades will resume the following year.
School District of Lee County spokesperson Rob Spicker said students will see very little impact in their day-to-day classes with the new legislation, as the district has been using progress monitoring to drive instruction for more than a decade.
“We are excited to keep using the system because we know it will continue to benefit our students,” Spicker said. “Progress monitoring informs teachers about each student’s individual needs and allows teachers to then tailor instruction to meet those needs. Our students benefit from progress monitoring and will not notice much difference in their classes as the state moves to this teaching and learning model for accountability.”
There will be three check-ins, according to the governor for the progress monitoring — the beginning, middle and end of the school year.
“The final check-in will have an accountability standard attached to it, so students can demonstrate they have mastered the required material,” Spicker said.
As far as how the new legislation will affect teachers, the district is still waiting for guidance from the Florida Department of Education in regards to how it will impact teacher Value-Added Models scores.
“We look forward to the guidance FLDOE will provide in the coming months and the opportunity to meet with them for clear direction, so our questions can be answered,” Spicker said.
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