Governor Waives Statewide Testing Requirements… For Some.

With public schools converting to distal learning during a global pandemic, after hearing the calls from parents from across Florida, on 3/17/2020, Governor DeSantis held a press conference announcing:

“For this school year on, all remaining testing for school readiness, voluntary Pre-K, and K-12 will be cancelled for the school year. Requirements for graduation, promotion and final course grades will be evaluated as though those assessments did not exist.”

The waiving of the testing requirements was a big sigh of relief to teachers, students and parents concerned with how Covid-19 would effect their students’ futures. As a parent of an 8th grader taking Algebra 1, I wholeheartedly celebrated the announcement. Finally, Florida was putting the health and well being of our children before their insane need to collect assessment data.

Or so I thought…

Questions began to be asked. Clarifications were requested. Just what exactly did “Requirements for graduation and promotion, and final course grades will be evaluated as though those assessments which were cancelled did not exist” mean?

To paraphrase the Florida Department of Education with the words of Inigo Montoya “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

On March 19th, the FLDOE released “additional guidance and clarification” and answered the question: “How does the cancellation of state assessments impact students?” with “The answer will vary based on students’ placement within their educational journey.”

SPOILER ALERT: my 8th grade Algebra 1 student is NOT off the hook. Neither is your sophomore.

The details with regards to state testing:

• Current seniors: If a senior is expected to graduate in spring 2020 and has not met the exit criteria for Algebra I EOC and/or Grade 10 ELA FSA, or earned a concordant score, this criteria will be waived. However, students still must earn the necessary credits and meet the GPA requirements to graduate.
•  Non-seniors: The Department is waiving the requirement for non-senior students who are currently enrolled in a course that requires an EOC to take the associated EOC. However, non-seniors who have yet to pass the Grade 10 FSA ELA must still meet the exit criteria by passing that assessment during a future administration or earning a concordant score. Though non-senior students enrolled in the EOC course of Algebra 1 are not required to take the Algebra 1 EOC, they must still meet the mathematics assessment graduation requirement by either passing the Algebra 1 EOC (offered four times each year) during a future administration, earning a concordant score, or passing the Geometry EOC during a future administration. [For more details re. concordant scores, see addendum below.]
• Grade 3 promotion: Generally, the Grade 3 ELA FSA is a key component districts use to make promotion decisions. Since this data will not be available due to the cancellation of statewide assessments for the 2019-2020 school year, promotion decisions should be made in consultation with parents, teachers, and school leaders based on the students’ classroom performance and progress monitoring data.
• 30% for final grade: For students currently enrolled in courses that include a statewide EOC to be factored into the student’s grade, this requirement will be waived. Districts have the discretion to determine whether district-developed EOC assessments are necessary for these courses for the 2019-2020 school year.

In case you were wondering, seniors accounted for just 241 of the total 207,060 First-Time Algebra 1 test takers last year, which means the Governor is probably waiving the Algebra 1 graduation requirement for fewer than 1% of this year’s Algebra 1 students.

So, for the more the 99%+ of non-senior students who were scheduled to take the Algebra 1 EOC this spring, along with ALL the state’s sophomores scheduled to take their 10th grade FSA ELA, the graduation requirements associated with those tests are NOT being waived. These students will not be required to take these assessments this spring, but they will be held responsible for “passing” them before they can graduate.

In the meantime, test scores will not be used to calculate A-F School Grades. Teacher evaluations will not be dependent on student test scores. Student’s course grades will be calculated as if the assessments never existed. Third graders will be promoted and high school seniors will graduate. But Algebra 1 students and sophomores will be required to pass exams that were never administered.

We think that is not fair. In fact, it is ridiculous. We hope legislators, in a post-Covid19 Florida, will recognize the unfairness, err on the side of humanity and offer relief to these students. One can only hope.

ADDENDUM:

Details re. Concordant Scores:

More details can be found here: http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5663/urlt/Rule6A109422Ann-FAQ.pdf

and here:

http://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/7764/urlt/GradRequireFSA.pdf