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• But the state’s biggest teacher’s union is raising concerns about the effectiveness of this tool.
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• Central Florida students will soon be sharpening their pencils to take high stakes tests. Students aren’t the only ones affected by their outcomes.
A new Orange County report shows little evidence Florida’s teacher merit-pay law is raising student achievement. The state legislature adopted the law in 2011. It ties teacher pay and promotions to how students perform on standardized tests. Brevard Superintendent Desmond Blackburn weighs in.
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• Education is often a key campaign issue in Florida, but this year there’s a new wrinkle, the so-called testing opt-out movement. Each spring, 3rd graders in the state’s public schools must take a standardized reading test. Students who fail can be held back. But a group of parents is challenging the state’s retention policy in court, and they want lawmakers to back them up.
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• Opt out. That’s what a group of parents in Orlando have chosen to have their kids do rather than take the Florida State Assessments test. This year, the state replaced the controversial FCAT standardized exams that had been used to determine how well kids were doing in school with the even more controversial FSA. The tests, which were imported from Utah where they were rife with problems, were rolled out this year, and parents and education advocates say that teachers and students weren’t given enough time to prepare for them. To make matters worse, the stakes for failure on the tests is high – students can be held back a grade for failing to pass them, something many parents say is just not right.
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• Orange County Public Schools is easing the impact of more tests this school year. Superintendent Barbara Jenkins announced Tuesday new final exams for middle and high school students won’t count if they would harm a student’s final grade.
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• Kindergartners, first and second graders started taking standardized tests Monday in Orange County. The tests are in reading and math. And some parents are opting their children out of the Iowa Assessment saying it’s too long and difficult for their age.
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• Miami-Dade County abandons a plan to administer 300 different end-of-course exams. The new number: 10. Broward County will throw out 1,300.
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• Central Florida students faced more testing disruptions Monday. That’s because of glitches to the state’s standardized computer testing system that blocked students from logging in.
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• The next round of computer-based testing for Florida students got off to a much smoother start.
Fifth through eighth graders are taking a standardized math test. Fifth through 10th graders are also taking an English Language Arts exam. And school district officials across Central Florida say so far, so good.
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• Just in time for Spring Break, Orange County Public Schools has announced the district is cutting several end-of-course exams for elementary students. This includes locally-created exams for science, art, music and P.E for Kindergarten through fourth grade. And a social studies test for K through fifth graders.
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