Cancel all FSA Consequences and Mandated Tests

Tell Florida Senators and Representatives to protect public school children and cancel the FSA and all state-mandated tests

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Dear [elected official],

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Please agenda SB 886 and HB 359 to remove all FSA testing stakes on all assigned committees of record and VOTE YES, cancel 2021 FSA mandated state testing and apply for the US. DOE waiver to hold Florida harmless.

·        FSA results gathered in spring 2021, during COVID-19, will not provide an accurate picture of student progress, teacher effectiveness, and school performance and as such should not be used to retain students, rank teachers, or grade schools.

·        It is inequitable and unrealistic to expect parents, who the state encouraged to exercise their “choice,” to keep their students out of face-to-face instruction over health risks to return these same students to a face-to-face school building to take the FSA.

·        FSA test prep will rob as much as two months of valuable teaching time needed to help students mitigate the negative impacts brought on by COVID-19.

·        Districts have already been required to collect “robust progress monitoring” data, spending upwards of $20 million in CARES funding to create this infrastructure for collecting, aggregating, and analyzing student data.

·        During the Pandemic Committee meeting it was expressed that the “robust progress monitoring” data collected on Florida K-12 students using embedded programs such as i-Ready are already providing teachers and districts plenty of information about student progress. This data has been shared regularly with the state FL DOE, documenting progress, and holding districts accountable - making the argument to administer spring FSA moot.

·        How can the spring 2021 FSA be valid or reliable given that methods and content for teaching school this year are in no way “standardized?”  During the 2020-school year, Florida students used a variety of alternative learning environments such as synchronous distance learning, virtual school, and homeschooling and returning to optional face-to-face in January 2021.

·        Because of the ongoing presence of COVID-19 in communities across the state, the patent refusal to vaccinate teachers and staff, and the lack of resources available for Florida schools to adhere strictly to CDC safety guidelines, we urge the Federal Government to consider waiving the annual testing requirement and the mandate for “95% tested” required in ESSA.

For the sake of every Florida child, please show the compassion and grace Commissioner Corcoran mentions so frequently and agenda SB 886 and HB 359 to remove all FSA testing stakes on all assigned committees of record and VOTE YES, cancel FSA 2021 state testing and apply for the US. DOE waiver to hold Florida harmless.

Sincerely, [Your information here]