TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — This will be the last school year for Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) testing in the state of Florida, Governor DeSantis announced Tuesday morning.
The governor called the FSA test ineffective and said it takes days to administer and cannot be personalized.
Instead, he says it will be replaced by progress monitoring three times per year, which he says can be administered in hours. He says it will require 75 percent less testing time and offer timely results.
The Florida Education Association favored the move, saying it would free up time for genuine teaching and learning.
WATCH THE ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW
“Florida’s education focus should be students’ growth and how we restore the conversation between parents and teachers in support of students’ growth,” said Gov. DeSantis. “In this final step to eradicate Common Core from our assessments, our administration is implementing the lessons learned from progress monitoring both during the state’s recovery and from our districts and schools that were already showing how we can better support students reaching their own unique growth goals.”
The legislation would be considered in the upcoming lawmaking session, which begins in January. DeSantis says lawmakers are putting the bill together right now.
Officials at the press conference said in the current system, April and May in schools are reserved almost exclusively for testing. They also called the FSA antiquated.
The 2022-23 school year will be the first without FSA testing.
With this transition to statewide progress monitoring for school accountability, Florida will restore the ability for parents and teachers to have impactful conversations about students’ growth and inform parents’ ability to help their children grow by:
- Becoming the 1st State in the Nation to switch from end of the year assessments to state standards-aligned progress monitoring for accountability;
- Minimizing the stress of testing to three much shorter tests in the Fall, Winter and Spring that will inform students, teachers and parents about students’ growth, rather than a single lengthy end-of-year assessment that halts learning and leaves zero opportunity for improvement; and
- Reducing testing time an average of 75% through progress monitoring, increasing time for teaching and providing more timely, usable feedback to help students reach their unique goals.
Below are more facts about the differences between the FSA and the F.A.S.T. Plan:
