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Hernando School Board adds its voice to the growing revolt over state testing mandates

 
Tampa Bay Times
Published Nov. 6, 2014

BROOKSVILLE — The Hernando County School Board has added its voice to the rising chorus demanding changes to Florida's testing and accountability system.

Board members voted unanimously Tuesday on a resolution urging state officials to institute a three-year delay in the consequences tied to new academic standards and tests. The action, they said, would give schools and teachers more time to prepare for the changes, and the state will be able to validate the accuracy and reliability of the exams.

"There's a happy medium that exists between instruction and diagnostics of testing, to make sure our students are grasping the material," board member Matt Foreman said Wednesday. "I believe the pendulum has swung too far, and we're taking too much time away from instruction for the purposes of testing."

The board adopted nearly identical language to the resolution approved in late October by the Palm Beach School Board. Hernando Classroom Teachers Association president Jo Ann Hartge said it represented a realistic middle ground that both the union and the district could support.

"We are not asking for testing to end," Hartge said. "We are just asking for a fair and reasonable time line" to make the transition from the FCAT to its replacement, the Florida Standards Assessments.

A growing number of school districts are taking similar stands.

School boards in Marion, Lee, Miami-Dade, Broward, Alachua and Duval counties have passed testing resolutions, while others, including Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco, are exploring options. A number of districts, meanwhile, are reviewing their own test lists to see where they might reduce the load on teachers and students.

Palm Beach cut more than a dozen local exams last week, and Miami-Dade restored about 260 minutes of instruction to the year by culling out a variety of tests, too.

On Tuesday, the Pasco School Board called for its own "exhaustive" list of assessments, both state- and district-mandated, for possible reductions.

Pasco schools superintendent Kurt Browning said Wednesday he expected to become a louder proponent for injecting some reality into the state's testing program. "Somebody needs to understand, we're not saying, 'throw accountability out,' " Browning said. "But we want a system that makes sense."

Hartge said she expected Hernando to look into cutting local testing, too, while still pressing for a statewide discussion about accountability. That conversation is critical, she said, because its impact is fast approaching.

Students will be taking tests online, she said, but not all have the necessary keyboarding skills, nor do all schools have the appropriate updated technology.

Despite these and other hurdles, students will continue to face consequences such as being held back in third grade, and teachers will have their evaluations tied to the results.

"We're asking for three years to have a chance to roll this out," Hartge said.

Hernando district spokesman Eric Williams said the superintendent and board shared the concern.

"It's not that we don't want to be held accountable," Williams said. "We just want it to be fair."

Gov. Rick Scott said during his re-election campaign that he heard the increasing dismay with Florida's testing and the stakes attached. He said he would ask the Department of Education to "conduct a thorough investigation of all standardized tests."

However, that request has yet to arrive, so no action has begun.

Hernando board member Dianne Bonfield said students, teachers and schools deserve some relief.

"Everyone is starting to get burned out," she said. "We're just tired, very tired, of all these mandates."

Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at jsolochek@tampabay.com or (813) 909-4614. Follow @jeffsolochek.