Okaloosa County School District recently issued the following announcement.
In the Fall, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited Ruckel Middle School and spoke with parents and teachers in a round table discussion about the need to move away from Florida Standardized Assessments (FSA) and toward a progress monitoring system. Today, at Florosa Elementary School, he signed Senate Bill 1048 that made this discussion a reality. “We are excited to be back in Okaloosa County. We came here saying we needed to do this change. The Bill we will sign today will bring us full circle,” said DeSantis to a group of students, teachers, administrators, and government officials.
Currently, students in Florida are assessed in multiple subjects on the FSA in grades 3 through 10. Once students get to the secondary level, students also take End of Course Exams for classes that the FSA does not cover. All these assessments are administered at the end of the school year, and results are not reported until after the school year has ended, giving teachers no time to go back and ensure their students are prepared for the next school year.
SB 1048 eliminates the FSA and institutes a progress monitoring system. Students will take three shorter assessments throughout the year- one each in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. Teachers and parents will receive data on their students’ performance within two weeks of the assessment, allowing them to discuss their strengths and areas of improvement with the student. Teachers can then develop differentiated lessons for their students’ needs, helping them learn the content they are struggling with or providing more challenging content to those who are excelling. With the subsequent two tests, teachers and students can see their learning gains thanks to the targeted instruction and hard work to learn the content. “This also gives parents more opportunity to help with their student’s education. You cannot do much if you get results after the school year ends. If it’s during the school year, parents and teachers can discuss ways to help the student in the Fall, Winter, and Spring,” added DeSantis.
Superintendent Chambers explained that “in Okaloosa, we have been participating in progress monitoring for a number of years.” Understanding the significance of a pre-test and then the instructional decisions made based on the results, seeing that real-time adjustments are being made, helps you grasp the importance of progress monitoring. I could not be prouder, Governor, of this Bill and the difference it will make in the lives of students.”
Monique Stinson, a fifth-grade teacher at Florosa, shared her worry coming into this year, not knowing where her students’ abilities stood in the wake of learning in a pandemic and the summer slide. In August, 6% of her students were on grade level. She relied on building relationships and progress monitoring to help her students improve, learn, and grow. “I had to be sure that students were getting prerequisite skills they needed to understand grade-level standards. I also had to be sure that the 6% were being challenged and accelerated as needed.” In the winter, Ms. Stinson’s students took their second diagnostic, and those results showed that 47% of her students were now on grade level. “Progress monitoring isn’t just about an assessment three times a year. It’s not about the adults getting together to discuss the data. Progress monitoring is about communicating with all stakeholders, including the child, to create a plan to assist students in closing their learning gaps and or accelerating their learning. When students are aware of where they are, what their goals are, and how they can reach their goals, they are more likely to work to get there.” She stressed that “their success will belong with them.”
Rebecca Job explained her experience as a parent of a child that was earning A’s, B’s, and C’s on his coursework but received a letter at the end of the school year that he would be retained because of his FSA test scores and would need to attend Summer School. She knew he needed an environment that used progress monitoring to help students succeed. “We moved him to Florosa, where progress monitoring was already in practice, and he closed the gap. This experience inspired Ms. Job to leave her career in Marketing and become a second-grade teacher at Florosa. “If I could prevent just one child and one family from going through what we had gone through, we could make a difference.”
“We’re trying to build a stronger foundation,” said Governor DeSantis. You look at this county [Okaloosa], this is one of the best performing counties in the state. You are in the top five out of 67 counties so that’s a really good thing and I think that part of it is because you really do focus on key elements and on the basics. We are seeing early learning and early reading which is something that is really important. I know that you have done a lot here in Okaloosa County to accomplish that.”
This school year will be the last year that the FSA is administered. Progress monitoring accountability will begin next year to form a baseline of performance. School grades will be introduced again in School Year 2023-2024.
Original source can be found here.
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