JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As students begin to return from spring break, some will begin preparing to take the FSA for the final time.
That test is slated to be administered in May in Duval County.
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The Governor has touted a new progress monitoring system that will replace the FSA next year as a way of reducing testing, but the state’s largest teachers union has argued it will do just the opposite.
The Florida Education Association has said the main problem with the way the new law panned out is that it replaces one high-stakes year-end test with three tests administered throughout the year.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1048 into law last Tuesday, which replaces the FSA with a new progress monitoring system.
“We’re going to end up having 75% less time for testing now, and that’ll be more time for actually learning,” said DeSantis during the initial bill signing ceremony.
But Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar argues that’s not necessarily the case.
He contends the state missed an opportunity to override many district-level progress monitoring assessments, like ones administered in Duval and Clay counties.
“Districts already do progress monitoring and now we’re adding another layer of progress monitoring on top of it,” said Spar.
We asked the governor Monday what he made of FEA’s critiques.
“Yes, there will be a fall, a winter and a spring, but the overall time for learning will increase, time for testing will decrease,” said DeSantis.
The governor went on to defend the decision to allow school districts to keep their own progress monitoring programs.
“If you have things that have been proven to be effective, we clearly wouldn’t want to foreclose that,” said DeSantis.
Clay Superintendent David Broskie told us his district is still evaluating the future of its progress monitoring program.
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“We’re going to examine the legislation and come up with the best plan that benefits our students first and our teachers, making sure that the plan that we implement makes sense,” said Broskie.
We reached out to Duval County Public Schools and asked whether it would consider changes to its progress monitoring program. On Tuesday morning we received the following response.
“As SB 1048 was only recently passed, we are awaiting technical guidance from the Florida Department of Education regarding what testing accountability will look like in the future. We should be able to provide additional information once that happens,” Sonya Duke-Bolden with DCPS said.
It’s not entirely clear what these progress monitoring assessments will look like yet.
A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education told us the department is in the very early stages of planning for its implementation, but that it is a top priority.
“With this legislation, in the 2022-2023 school year and for the first time in Florida’s history, students, parents, and teachers in every school district across the state will have actionable feedback throughout the school year to drive improved student outcomes. This change will increase the availability of universal, standard feedback measuring student progress throughout the year that is completely aligned to Florida’s content standards and statewide assessments,” said DOE Communications Director Jared Ochs in an emailed statement.
The department also called this year’s bill a ”first step” toward streamlining and innovating testing in the state.
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