Today s news – October 8, 2015
Today’s news — October 8, 2015
Groups to Scott: Don`t use FSA scores to judge schools
Five Florida school advocacy groups today wrote Gov. Rick Scott urging him to “pause the process” of using fresh FSA test scores to grade public schools and help evaluate teachers. The groups, led by Fund Education Now, called it “profoundly unfair and inaccurate to use questionable test scores” for those purposes. They want Scott to issue an executive order “suspending any application of the two thousand fifteen Florida Standards Assessments.” The advocacy groups now join Florida superintendents, school boards and the Florida PTA in telling they are not certain the fresh FSA — whose roll out was marred by technology glitches — is accurate measure of student spectacle and want no high-stakes consequences tied to its very first administration. The group’s letter asked Scott to stop the State Board of Education and the Florida Department of Education from setting a scoring system for the fresh language arts and math abilities and then using the results to issue A-to-F grades to schools. The group also thinks two thousand fifteen FSA scores are too tainted to be used in teacher evaluations or for any other high-stakes purpose. The Legislature passed laws requiring school grades and test-score based teacher evaluations, but it does not meet again until early next year, too late to stop such act this year. That’s why the groups wrote Scott. “We are depending on you to do the right thing for public education, suspend the current FSA process and help us put Florida on the path to a better way,” the letter said. The others who signed the letter are: The president of the Miami-Dade County Council PTA, the president of Parents Across America/Florida, the education chair of the NAACP of Florida, and the deputy director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, Florida.
“We are not anti-test,” the groups wrote. “We all want to know how our students are progressing. But the status quo of arbitrarily failing large numbers of our students is not the way. At present, the FSA scores are futile to students, parents and teachers.”
Alachua superintendent urges parents unhappy with tests to make concerns known
Panhandle superintendents question FSA results
Solutions for Florida`s school testing and accountability mess
Pasco district analysis shows test scores tied strongly to socioeconomics
Florida insults school teachers with a $44 million absurdity (Mark Pudlow quoted)
Support grows for Lee superintendant, board takes warmth (Mark Castellano quoted)
Palm Beach School Board turns down three charter schools
Parents want recess back in the curriculum of Polk elementary schools
FHSAA: Harsher penalties needed for high school athletics recruiting
Teacher evaluation goes to the courts
Latvala blasts Scott aide’s «arrogance,» defends union lobbyist (Rich Templin quoted)
Florida’s jobless turned away from help
Latvala again calls Scott`s vetoes political
Minimum wage challenge nets insights for lawmakers
Stress mounts over which lawyers get access to Florida Senate redistricting maps
House looks at exchanging property taxes, sales taxes
Facing cuts to uninsured health care pool, lawmakers aren’t ready to talk solutions
Senate panel wants answers from DOH on children’s health programs
Lawmakers prepare for familiar health battles
Obama urges increase in unions to empower workers
America`s voting machines are in need of a serious upgrade
