Studer Community Institute

Shannon's Window: Testing reform that's "good enough"?

March 30, 2015
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ early-learning

No one is looking forward to April 13. Certainly not Tim Wyrosdick, superintendent of Santa Rosa schools. That dreaded day is when the computer-based reading and math version of the Florida Standards Assessment test will be rolled out across his school district. The writing test that students took in February was plagued with technical problems. Wyrosdick and his colleagues are anxious to see how the system responds when even more students try to use it in April. “If it doesn’t (work), we don’t have a contingency plan,” said Wyrosdick, in a telephone interview as he traveled from Tallahassee with Escambia schools Superintendent Malcolm Thomas. “There is no pencil-and-paper version.” Wyrosdick and Thomas have been to the state capital before. Earlier this year they went before the state education board to urge officials to not count the test results this year. Their argument is bolstered by problems that plagued the FSA writing test. The new standardized test has not been properly vetted in Florida — until this year. “What we did to begin FCAT, we had two years of testing transition (before the results counted toward school grades),” Wyrosdick said. “(With FSA) we don’t even know what rules to play by, how grades will be calculated — that’s been our argument all along.” There is some hope for relief through a House bill, which passed unanimously and aims to address some of the issues raised. The bill: — Eliminates a language arts test for juniors. — Bars final exams in classes for which the state or a local school district has End-of-Course exams and makes a college-readiness test given to some students optional. — Reduces how much of a teacher’s evaluation is tied to student performance. — Provides local districts more flexibility when it comes to testing. It did not include a “hold harmless” clause, which school districts are seeking for this year when it comes to school grades. State Rep. Clay Ingram, R-Pensacola, sits on the House Education Committee. He says he felt like there was enough good in the bill that it was worth a yes vote. “I felt like it was a good step forward,” Ingram said. The provision that reduces the weight given to the test results in teacher evaluations was a particularly prominent complaint Ingram says he heard from constituents. “That’s the part I heard the absolute most about over the summer,” he says. “The feedback I heard about that was heartfelt. It wasn’t something that came out of a newsletter.” Ingram says he has heard the complaints about the FSA and the vendor, American Institutes for Research, which ran an update to its system the day before thousands of students tried to log on to use it for the writing test. Ingram did rule out the idea of sanctioning AIR for the failures with the writing test. “I don’t know if that’s something that can be done; it’s not something I’ve heard brought up, but we ought to ask if it’s in the contract to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” says Ingram. Ingram acknowledges the absence of the hold harmless clause, but he says the matter could still be addressed. That concern is a big one for Wyrosdick and Thomas. “Because of the high stakes of the test, we tend to dwell on the implications the test has on teacher evaluations and school grades,” Wyrosdick says. “I’m more concerned about moms’ and dads’ confidence in the assessment system itself. We don’t need to lose that.” And yet he worries that is happening. Which is why he encourages parents to give their testing feedback directly to the legislators. “I think it would come more clearly from moms and dads,” he says. “It’s a test we need to give. We don’t want to lose the parents now.”

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Shannon's Window: Testing reform that's "good enough"?

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