Parents, students, and more and more Florida school policy-makers are fed up with the out-of-control testing of our students in our schools. The voices that have begged Tallahassee to restrain these out of control testing protocols have been ignored, nothing has been done to fix this problem.
Most of us understand the need for a reasonable level of Norm Referenced Testing so that we know if our students are learning the materials, however we've gone way past reasonable....
We are killing up to a full third of our school year with test administration and test preparation.
And grassroots organizations are forming to urge Floridians engage in a modern day act of civil-disobedience; These groups are challenging students to simply refuse to take these state mandated tests.
From Florida Today:
"Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart reiterated this week that student participation in state exams are "mandatory" and that consequences exist for teachers, schools and districts who help students "opt out" of required exams.School districts could losing funding, and educators who encourage, allow or fail to report "opt out" instances could face disciplinary action. In addition, superintendents who fail to report such acts of misconduct "could result in discipline, including forfeiture of salary," the letter says."
Read the full article and see Commissioner of Education Pam Stewart's letter to Don Gaetz addressing this issue, here
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