FL Republican House does what Democrats should be doing all around the country.

[madfloridian]

Their motives are most likely not pure ones, but it will take some of the pressure off students, teachers, and parents.

They are cutting back on the testing and lowering the percentage of a teacher's evaluation that comes from the test. Whatever their motives right now, I say good for them.

That does not make me a disloyal Democrat. It means our Democrats have stubbornly continued pursuing a very flawed education policy.

Florida House votes to scale back school testing

TALLAHASSEE — The House unanimously approved legislation Wednesday aimed at lowering the number and importance of tests administered to Florida public-school students, shifting debate on this year's highest-profile education issue to the Senate.

Lawmakers voted 115-0 to pass the bill (HB 7069), which would eliminate an 11th-grade language arts test, bar final exams in classes for which the state or a local school district has end-of-course tests and make a college-readiness test given to some students optional.

The measure would also reduce how much of a teacher's evaluation is tied to student performance, from 50 percent to a third, and provide local districts more flexibility when it comes to testing.

"With the passage of this legislation, we have addressed legitimate concerns about student testing while maintaining a strong accountability system that promotes quality instruction in the classroom, increasing transparency to provide clear and consistent information, and maximizing flexibility for our local school districts," House Education Chairwoman Marlene O'Toole, R-Lady Lake, said in a statement issued after the vote.

This year's new tests have been a huge mess. The FLDOE seems unwilling to face reality about it. The state superintendent thinks it's fine that 90% of the students took it successfully. Not really concerned about the 10% who did not.

Florida flunked the test, failed the kids.

Imagine a 10th grade kid coming into class on test day, already stressing out, knowing his high school graduation hinges on test scores. He tries to log on. He can’t. Or he logs on, begins to take the test, but the computer crashes. Or the server fails. Some kids managed, amid the fits and starts, to finish the test on the allotted day. Others had to return and try again the next day. Some returned to a partially finished test. Others began anew.

Thousands of students in at least three dozen school districts suffered these intermittent computer failures. Yet their scores will be measured against results from schools and districts that weren’t up against these problems. Commissioner Pam Stewart, testifying last week before a state Senate education committee, said that the integrity of the results is dandy. At least I think that’s what she meant when she said, “We are certain that the content of the test is absolutely psychometrically valid and reliable.”

Perhaps Stewart could employ psychometrics to measure the frustration of school teachers, whose raises and perhaps their continued employment hinge on the outcome of this testing fiasco. Test scores belched out by computers that were outfitted with faulty software and breached by hackers — over and over again, according to the DOE — provide the basis for half the teacher performance evaluations. “If nothing is changed in the next 60 days by the Florida Legislature, this mess will provide the baseline for next year’s teacher salaries,” Fedrick Ingram, president of the United Teachers of Dade, told me Wednesday afternoon.

It’s not just the teachers’ unions begging legislators to take a time-out and fix the glitches before students, teachers and schools are subjected to the punitive consequences of unreliable testing. Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who called the testing regime “catastrophic,” asked the state for a two-year moratorium before forcing school districts to take these lousy numbers seriously.

Not just happening in Florida, happening all over the country.

Anxious to see what the state senate does.

[sabrina 1]

1. This started with Bush's NCLB. We expected when Democrats won in 2008 that finally

this horrible system would be changed for the better. I know I was pretty shocked when I saw that not only Dems do nothing to end this disastrous system, they enhanced it, making what was an already terrible system, even worse.

And I also remember people warning that Dems would be held responsible for it, and provide Republicans with an opportunity to do what THEY should have done.

And this is exactly what is happening.

Who is going to remember now the days when Dems opposed this system?

It will HAVE to change, it is simply untenable and is not an 'educational' system, it is a for profit testing system where the only beneficiaries are the Test Publishing Cos.

And Dems will get the blame for it, as predicted.

[madfloridian]

2. Yes, it gave the Republicans a big opportunity. They jumped right in.

Someone told me the other day that I was taking up right wing causes. No, not really.

[sabrina 1]

3. Well it sure wasn't you who supported Bush's NCLB.

One of the major disappointments, and that's putting it mildly, of the past few years.

[stillwaiting]

10. The person who said that to you is most likely much further right than you.

And, they probably did it to get under your skin. It amazes me how the left seems to be hated around here by some posters much more than the right.

Don't let it get you down!!

You are awesome!!

[MisterP]

14. problem is, the way the party's set itself up is that if you warn that the Dems will be held

responsible for the policies they pass, you'll be blamed for every electoral loss--they'll insist you're "serving Rove and the GOP-controlled media LIES"

[sabrina 1]

17. Yes, but since that is a lie, I don't worry about it. I never worry about what people who

are willing to lie and/or twist the truth, have to say. We have to keep telling the truth and keep voting out those who lie to the people.

This is OP is absolutely correct and anyone who denies is willfully blind or has an agenda.

[MisterP]

19. I guess it's like Fox: it's not really to convince anyone, it's to create a new atmosphere

it's a "chilling effect"

also it shows how the party's operating--that it's built a wall with billionaire ca$h to keep itself going forever without ever addressing what any of its voters need; it's following the GOP's structure and M.O. with only a few years' delay

[MohRokTah]

4. Bravo!!!

The tests have failed, not the students and certainly not the teachers.

[madfloridian]

9. Exactly..the teachers and students didn't fail.

The tests failed them.

[liberal_at_heart]

5. I'm ashamed that the Democratic Party would support a program named Race to the Top.

The very name says we plan on leaving children behind.

[madfloridian]

11. Good point.

It turns education into a contest with winners and losers.

[sabrina 1]

18. I don't think the name applies to children. I think it applies to the Education Publishing

corporations who have profited obscenely from this 'testing' system. 'Which Corp can make the most money'.

The whole thing was invented by Businessmen, all Friends of Bush. No educators were involved airc in the creation of NCLB.

[msongs]

6. democrats-run california beat them to it in a bigger way. nt

[madfloridian]

7. Yes, I read about that. Good for them.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/california-suspends-standards-common-core-now-29575861

[DonCoquixote]

8. sooner or later even the stubborn realize facts do not change

Though I have a sneakign suspicion their motives have to do more with money, specificaly that they realize that charters and religious schools would drown in the same quagmire of teaching to the test: it would cost a lot, and achieve no results.

[FloriTexan]

12. Kicking for Good News!

[madfloridian]

13. Thanks.

Much appreciated.

[F4lconF16]

15. Kick and rec

Education is one of the biggest reasons I can't fully support the Democratic Party. They've totally abandoned students around the country, and I am incredibly thankful for the few who still fight for these issues.

Btw, if people haven't read it, "More than a Score" by Jesse Hagopian is worth a read. Fantastic guy that I've had the privilege of meeting and marching with.

[madfloridian]

16. I read that. It was impressive.

[magical thyme]

20. I had to take a computer-based training program a few weeks ago at work

When it came time for my test, it took a good 30 minutes of my test time to get logged in and get the thing downloaded, with help from our IT dept.

The 1st set of questions were so horrific (the instructor told us she had front-loaded the toughest questions to get them out of the way) that I marked 3 of them to revisit at the end of the test. I couldn't even read them they were so badly written and filled with irrelevent crap.

Halfway through the test, I got thrown out due to the test company's server. It was a good 15-20+ minutes before it came back up again. It had saved all my answers except the 3 I had "marked" were now set as answered with scores of 0.

I ended up finishing the test barely in time and mercifully passed. Horrific experience. The entire training program was awful, from start to finish and I came close to walking out of the job as a result.

I loved going to school 40-50 years ago. I would absolutely hate it today. Really, you couldn't pay me enough.