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Hernando rethinking its tough stance on third-grade advancement

 
Despite a ruling in their favor on testing, the district told, from left, Hailey Everett, Maddison Hohman and Madelynn Kinkade their seats at Chocachatti Elementary had been forfeited.  
Despite a ruling in their favor on testing, the district told, from left, Hailey Everett, Maddison Hohman and Madelynn Kinkade their seats at Chocachatti Elementary had been forfeited. 
Published Sept. 29, 2016

BROOKSVILLE — The Hernando County School District's hard line on third-grade promotions may be showing some cracks.

At the last School Board meeting, deputy superintendent Gina Michalicka said the state has approved a computer testing program called i-Ready — normally given three times a year to check whether students are working at grade level — to help determine whether third-graders are skilled enough to advance to fourth grade.

After the meeting, Michalicka said the district might include i-Ready as one of its options to help determine advancement. Other districts already use the program this way, as an option for students who opt out of the controversial Florida Standards Assessment test.

It seemed like a potential breakthrough to Pam Dix Everett, one of six parents or guardians of Hernando students who last month joined a successful lawsuit against the state and several districts over advancement policies. The group has argued that the district should judge third-grade students on their work during the school year, and not the results of one test.

"A true portfolio — that's what we've wanted all along," said Everett, who attended the Sept. 13 meeting.

But the district will not use i-Ready as part of the portfolio, which School Board member Beth Narverud asked about during the meeting, but as a replacement for another standardized option, the SAT/10, said district spokeswoman Karen Jordan.

Jordan also said it has not been decided whether, when considering advancement, the district would use i-Ready scores earned during the year, or offer the test as a one-time replacement for the FSA.

And, finally, Jordan did not answer whether the district would allow students to choose i-Ready or the portfolio after opting out of the FSA.

Hernando emerged as a symbol of the state's heavy reliance on the FSA because more parents from Hernando joined the suit than from any other county — and because the judge's ruling singled out the district for its "illegal refusal to provide any portfolio option."

It became an even bigger target for testing opponents after the ruling, when it refused advancement for three students at Chocachatti Elementary School, saying the children had forfeited their slots at the magnet school.

Parents say conflicting statements from the district and other sources have made it difficult to determine how the district defines portfolios, under what circumstances students can choose that option and, therefore, how big of a change might be on the way.

This is partly because Hernando, along with the state Department of Education and several other districts, has appealed the ruling of Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers, and the district's lawyers have advised staffers and board members not to comment.

The children who "opted out" of the FSA tests in Hernando and elsewhere did so by breaking the seal and signing their names, but not answering any questions.

Instead of giving each child a "zero," Gievers said, Hernando and some other districts say the result is no score and, therefore, no chance to opt for a portfolio.

"There is no opt-out clause or process for students and parents," superintendent Lori Romano said last spring. And a fact sheet about testing that the district distributed in February emphasized that students "must participate in the statewide assessment program" as mandated by state law and the Department of Education.

The sheet does mention, but does not define, the portfolio option for students who do not pass the FSA or the SAT/10, which may be replaced by i-Ready.

Jordan said last year that the portfolio was a series of exercises administered in a controlled environment, similar to a standardized test. And that's the way it was described to parents of children who opted out, Erica Farrell, the mother of a Pine Grove Elementary School student, said last school year.

Last week, Jordan said the district followed a state rule that offered a more conventional definition of a portfolio and that included class work performed over the course of the school year. She also said it followed a model for portfolios based on a model provided by the state.

Cheryl Etters, a DOE spokeswoman, wrote in an email that the department allows districts to create their own requirements for portfolios and that i-Ready can be included if districts determine the program "meets the requirements in (department rules) for the student portfolio for promotion to grade 4."

After Michalicka said at the meeting that i-Ready accurately predicts performance on the FSA, Narverud asked, "Could this be part of the portfolio option?"

In Pasco and Citrus counties such programs already are, administrators in those districts told the Times in August.

Those districts allow students to choose the portfolio option even if they opt out of the FSA. And in Citrus, said elementary education director Scott Hebert, most teachers rely only on a progress-monitoring program to determine whether students who have opted out can advance to fourth grade.

"It really, truly does reflect their students' knowledge," Hebert said.

Contact Dan DeWitt at ddewitt@tampabay.com; follow @ddewitttimes.