This white paper is not designed to be an exhaustive analysis of every issue surrounding this topic, but rather, it is an attempt to deepen the understanding of the impact of Florida’s intense focus on testing and accountability.
FLORIDA DRIVING TEST SCORE SHEET FULL
In order to better understand the full scope of the impact of the current high stakes testing in the State of Florida, this paper addresses the following questions:ġ.What is the history of high stakes testing in the State of Florida and who is driving the legislation?Ģ.What is the intended use of the testing?ģ.What is the correlation in data between student success and testing?Ĥ.What are the costs on resources incurred at the district, school, and individual classroom levels?ĥ.What is the actual composition of Florida’s high stakes tests? This remains a difficult subject to tackle as many recognize the necessity and value of accountability in ensuring basic literacy and numeracy in students, but question the current method of choice. In recent years, the impact of high stakes testing and accountability in the State of Florida has come into question for policy makers, educators, parents, and students alike. It points out in great detail the negative effects on students and teachers of Florida’s testing program, and shows convincingly that the testing program is being used in ways that it was never intended. The white paper that follows is long but worth your time.
While the specifics are about Florida, the general conclusions about the negative impact of state standardized programs are relevant across the country - not only because other states have their own version but because some looked to Florida as a model as they developed their own school accountability systems. The white paper, called “The Ramifications of Standardized Testing on our Public Schools,” was just released by the Central Florida School Board Coalition, a group of top officials from 10 school districts. Florida’s standardized testing program is being misused and has “severely impacted student learning,” according to a new white paper that says that school districts in the state are required to give as many as 62 tests a year to students.