By The News Service of Florida
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday formally received two high-profile education bills that would overhaul the state’s standardized testing system and create a public-records exemption for colleges and universities as they search for new presidents.
DeSantis will have until March 29 to act on the bills, which received final approval this month from the Legislature.
One of the bills (SB 1048) is aimed at ending the Florida Standards Assessments and replacing the standardized exams with a “progress monitoring system” that would test students three times a year. Students would be required to take progress-monitoring tests at the beginning, middle and end of each school year. The final tests of the year would be used for accountability purposes to determine such things as graduation for high-school students and school grades.
The other bill (SB 520) would create a public-records exemption to shield information about applicants to become presidents of state colleges and universities. The bill would exempt from disclosure “personal identifying information” about people applying to lead colleges and universities until near the end of searches, when information about finalists would be released.
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I am not sure if they still do it this way BUT, when I was in High School (75-79), we had a Big Test every 6 Weeks (3 per Semester) on what we learned during those 6 Weeks and then we had Semester Exams. One at the end of the First Semester (first 18 Weeks), and we had one at the end of the second Semester (last 18 Weeks) and that Exam even included several questions from the first Semester Exam. The Semester Exams took two days to do, three Tests per day. That is 6 Big Tests and 2 Huge Tests, not including the weekly Friday Tests most Teachers gave us every Year.
Back when I was in high school (just a couple of years after dirt was invented) there were numerous standardized tests that were just a part of life. The 12th grade test was given to all high school seniors and the results were accepted by all in-state universities, colleges, and junior colleges in place of an SAT or ACT score. The National Math Test was given to everyone willing to take it as a competition between schools. The top performers went on to compete at state and/or nation level contests.
Tests are everywhere and a part of daily life. Just getting into the car and driving to work is a test of your ability to safely move that vehicle through traffic to your destination.
Testing isn’t a bad thing. We need to get over this “standardized tests are racist” rubbish.