The state of the schools is… surreal.
That’s according to Orange County School Board Chair Bill Sublette. He delivered the annual “State of the Schools” address Tuesday morning.
Sublette said the school board is asking the state legislature for a one-year “hold harmless” period for the new standardized tests. They were administered for the first time a few weeks ago. Test scores determine teacher pay, school funding, and student placement. A "hold harmless" period would make this year's rollout, which was marred by computer glitches, more of a dress rehearsal. In other words, the test scores wouldn't count.
And they shouldn't, Sublette told 90.7 News, because the test hasn't even been benchmarked yet. No one knows what the passing score is.
"That’s almost something out of a Lewis Carroll novel," Sublette said. "It just is surreal that we’re being told all these very important decisions about a child’s future, a school’s future, [and] a teacher’s future are being based on a test where you’ve never tried it before, it’s never been validated, and you haven’t been told what the pass score is yet."
Sublette said he’ll push the legislature for the one-year delay during the special session starting in June.
