Pensacola area superintendents add their voices to testing concerns


  • February 3, 2015
  • /   Staff Reports
  • /   civiccon
Escambia County School District Superintendent Malcolm Thomas and Santa Rosa Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick joined a group of their counterparts to meet with Gov. Rick Scott and Education Commissioner Pam Stewart last week in Tallahassee to share their concerns about challenges the districts are facing linked to this year’s state tests. [caption id="attachment_16314" align="alignright" width="280"]Tim_Wyrosdick Santa Rosa Schools Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick[/caption] "Our meeting with the governor was extremely profitable," Wyrosdick said. "I listened to him and he said, 'Everything you've shared with me I agree with. The superintendents are advocating using this year as a baseline, to hold these school grades where they are and at end of 2016 year "we can look at what growth we've had and give appropriate school grades." Wyrosdick says. The group presented five recommendations: — Support the administration of the Florida Standards Assessments this year and use the results as a baseline for measuring progress. The State’s accountability system relies on both learning gains as well as performance.  In the first year of FSA administration, there will be no learning gains and therefore will compromise its ability to drive accountability. — Freeze school grades through 2015-2016 to ensure two consecutive years of reliable and valid data. — Eliminate the requirement for the 11th grade English and Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment and all new end-of-course exams. — Allow for the determination of teacher evaluations based on local data. — Ensure adequate technology readiness for the statewide computer-based testing. [caption id="attachment_5015" align="alignright" width="300"]Town hall follow-ups schools Escambia Schools Superintendent Malcolm Thomas[/caption] “The state of Florida is over testing our students and it is too soon to use the new Florida Standards Assessment as an accountability tool,” Thomas said. “The state needs to use common sense and not use an assessment system that has so many unknown aspects in a way that could hurt our students, our teachers, or our schools.” The meeting included Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning, Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, Hillsborough Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, Pinellas County Superintendent Mike Grego, Orange County Superintendent Barbara Jenkins, St. Johns County Superintendent Joe Joyner and Nassau County Superintendent John Ruis. Thomas said that the Superintendents’ meeting with the Governor was a step along the road to change. The real effort has to come on the Legislative side of our state government. “Parents and teachers who share our concerns should contact their state legislators and ask them to join us in asking for assessment decisions based on common sense,” Thomas said. Any changes to the testing regimen must come through the Legislature. Wyrosdick said Senate bill 616 coming out of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee is a good start, but there are concerns it does not address. "It's what I don't know that scares me," Wyrosdick said. "The magnitude of putting 26,000 students — and for Malcolm it's 36,000 students or so — all on a testing sequence at the same time without having properly tested the technology. "Having had experience with statewide deployment with an exam already and in both of those we had major hiccups. This test is so high stakes and to rely on technology that we have not tested yet is discouraging." Wyrosdick said there is no backup if the technology issues cannot be resolved. If the system crashes for one school or one district, there is only a window of a few days to resolve it. And no real backup plan in place if the technology issues can't be resolved, Wyrosdick says. "If we have a bad day, what impact is that going to have on a kid taking the test?" Wyrsodick asked. "We immediately create an inequity." On Feb. 11, Escambia Schools District will conduct a test to replicate the computer needs of the Florida Standards Assessment. The test will involve all desktop and laptop computers that will be used for the actual assessments. “The goal is to test the capability of the school district’s network and the speed of our connection to the internet," said Tom Ingram, the district's director of information technology. "The load test should reveal any overload issues we might have with the State’s assessments, now, while there is time to identify solutions.” In the meantime, local education leaders must hope their concerns reach the ears of the lawmakers with the power to change the process. "You want this assessment experience to be positive. We already have enough anxiety simply because of the test," Wyrosdick says. "We have benefitted from the system. To jeopardize the public's trust, the teachers' trust, the students' trust in the system will have scars for years to come.  
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