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I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following : Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican, for Escambia County Commissioner District 1








Thursday, February 12, 2015

So Which Version of the Testing Story is True?



A few years back and three Chancellors of Education ago-- then Chancellor Gerard Robinson made an allegation on his blog that infuriated many board members around the state.  In this statement made by Robinson--he deflected statewide criticism he was receiving from education stakeholders regarding the out-of-control testing mandates coming down from Tallahassee.  He simply blamed local districts.  It wasn't us, it's them, they did it!

 It reminds me of a scene from the 1979 film "The Warriors" captured at minute 1:42 of this clip.


(Wrong guys got blamed due to a false statement being repeated over and over and over loudly and often by someone in a  position of  credibility)

At that time in  July 2012, I brought the issue to the board meeting and was reassured that it was the state, not us, that was mandating the massive number of tests.

Fast forward to last Tuesday and the big education summit in Tallahassee, and this time I heard with my own ears directly from the highest education official in the state  that it is local districts, not the state DOE or Tallahassee mandates, that are driving the massive number of tests administered yearly at the district level?

So who is it?

This issue was discussed by one of my counterparts on the board, and recently in speaking to a peer in a central Florida county, they are asking the same questions and are receiving murky, misleading, or flat-out inaccurate answers.

Looks like it's time to once again bring this issue to the board's workshop to pin down who it is, exactly, that is mandating the ridiculous number of tests that we are administering locally.

We're all for a rational, reasonable level of standardized testing for accountability--but what we are doing statewide now is ridiculous and it is burning out teachers and students and robbing classrooms of learning time.

1 comment:

Gulagathon said...

How can learning be fun when all education is, is getting ready for a test, then again, getting ready for a test. Teachers can't really delve to deeply into a particular subject too long because they have to stay on the pacing guide, even if some kids are completely lost. What ever happened to preparing kids for careers and life. All school is now, is preparing students for the next test, and how can that be fun. Fun fun fun means test test test. George Orwells ideas are alive and well.

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