Advertisement

Hillsborough, Pasco school officials hesitate to eliminate tests like Pinellas did

 
A group of students voluntarily packs the computer lab in the media center at
Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday to participate in an after-school algebra tutorial to make sure they're prepared for the state's end-of-course exam. [BRENDAN FITTERER   |   Times]
A group of students voluntarily packs the computer lab in the media center at Paul R. Smith Middle School in Holiday to participate in an after-school algebra tutorial to make sure they're prepared for the state's end-of-course exam. [BRENDAN FITTERER | Times]
Published April 29, 2015

The growing trend of Florida school districts eliminating hundreds of local year-end tests has yet to hit Hillsborough and Pasco counties.

Pasco officials said Tuesday that they'd like to provide relief to students, as their Pinellas County counterparts announced plans to do this week. But they're hung up on how to handle teacher evaluations, which must include a way to measure student performance.

"You could hold teachers harmless," Pasco district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said. "But we're not going to do that."

Hillsborough leaders, meanwhile, were less inclined to scale back on their testing program, which has been in place for years. That's different from other districts, which created a variety of local exams this year to meet a state teacher evaluation requirement that recently was rescinded by the Legislature.

"The real concern for a lot of districts was that they had to go through a large development process this year," acting superintendent Jeff Eakins said. "We have all kinds of formative exams. Some of our exams are natural parts of the school year."

Students are scheduled to begin the newly created tests next week. Pasco superintendent Kurt Browning plans to make a decision before then on whether to cut them like Pinellas did.

"There are just so many ramifications and compensations you have to make if you don't have them," Cobbe said. "We would have to find out a way to evaluate teachers based on something in the class."

She acknowledged that some districts have opted to hold teachers harmless from this year's testing results, negotiating in their contracts to rate everyone "effective" this year. The Pasco teachers union requested similar consideration this year, but after contract talks ended.

"It's hypocritical for us to do that," Cobbe said, noting that a recent review by the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit reform group, found the district's teacher evaluation system needed work. To scrap the system now "would be to take the easy way out," she said.

Browning planned to consult with principals and others while seeking a solution.

"We know families and students would be happy if we just got rid of (the tests)," Cobbe said. "We just don't want to make a rash decision."

Hillsborough students are less likely to see any changes soon.

The district's tradition of semester exams dates back more than a decade, said Anna Brown, the district's chief information and technology officer. Among other things, the tests are used to help students transfer schools and to ensure teaching is consistent across schools.

In 2009, when Hillsborough was approved for a teacher evaluation program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, district officials sought test results they could use for the data portion of teacher evaluations. But, Brown said, "We did not create a single assessment for the sole purpose of teacher evaluations."

School Board members do hear from concerned parents, though. They recently asked Eakins to explore ways to further reduce testing.

"What are some of the tests we can just stop doing that are not mandated?" Chairwoman Susan Valdes asked Tuesday. Children with limited English skills, she said, "are tested to death."

Board member April Griffin said she would like to find out if there is a legal way for Hillsborough to opt out of the Florida Standards Assessments tests and use a national, norm-referenced test instead.

The school boards in Seminole and Marion counties have begun looking into that option, which Browning and Pinellas superintendent Mike Grego also have supported in theory as a way to get validated exams with results that can be compared nationally.

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