Update: The state has dropped the standardized test for kindergartners that has given a multitude of teachers such difficulty at the beginning of this school year.
Florida’s Education Commissioner Pam Stewart suspended the computer-based Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading for the rest of the year. In Palm Beach County, the school district’s Chief Academic Officer Cheryl Alligood sent out a note to elementary principals just after 9 p.m. Monday alerting them to the change.
Palm Beach County school officials were among those from Gainesville to Miami to report having technical troubles administering the test.
Most notably, a kindergarten teacher in Alachua County wrote an open letter to parents on Facebook refusing to administer the test again – as she was supposed to do throughout the school year.
FAIR was not among the “high-stakes” tests that has had parents and school districts pushing back against state requirements. Unlike those tests, FAIR is used only to monitor students’ progress and is not part of the formula to calculate school grades or funding.
The Tampa Bay Times reports Bowles and other advocates expressed hope that the next step would be a wider discussion about testing in Florida schools.
“There is a yearning from teachers and parents that the whole testing structure and mentality get looked at and changed,” Bowles said.
Original post: Susan Bowles a Kindergarten teacher in Gainesville has posted a letter on Facebook to Gov. Rick Scott and candidate Charlie Crist inviting them to witness a kindergartner taking a computer-based reading test.
Her invitation comes a week after she rallied parents and educators alike with a post that began:
To the parents of the boys and girls in my class,
I wrote you a letter over the weekend to let you know that I am refusing to administer the FAIR test to your precious little ones. I had hoped to send you an email or letter, but it would not be professional of me or allowed by the district for a letter to go out letting you know that I am doing something that is a breach of contract and therefore against the law.
The letter details Bowles’ attempt to administer an updated version of the statewide FAIR test – a reading assessment that she said has become more time-consuming and difficult particularly since it went online:
Kindergartners are required to take it on the computer using a mouse. (While testing a child last week, she double-clicked which skipped a screen. This little girl double-clicked three times and triple-clicked once. There is no way for the teacher to go back. Neither is there a way for the school administrator to go back and make a correction.) While we were told it takes about 35 minutes to administer, we are finding that in actuality, it is taking between 35-60 minutes per child. This assessment is given one on one. It is recommended that both teacher and child wear headphones during this test. There is no provision from the state for money for additional staff to help with the other children in the classroom while this testing is going on. If you estimate that it takes approximately 45 minutes per child to give this test and we have 18 students, the time it takes to give this test is 13 ½ instructional hours. If you look at the schedule, a rough estimate would be that it requires about one full week of instructional time to test all of the children. Our Kindergarten teachers have been brainstorming ways to test and still instruct. The best option we have come up with is for teachers to pair up, with one teacher instructing two classes while the other teacher tests one-on-one. So now we are looking at approximately two weeks of true instructional time lost, because we cannot teach our curriculum, pulling small groups and targeting each child’s educational needs. FAIR testing is done three times a year.
The furor over state-mandated testing has been particularly heated in Florida ever since Lee County’s School Board voted 3-2 to opt out of the tests to a cheering audience. It later rescinded the vote when it became clear the decision put millions in state money as well as the diplomas of its students at risk.
Bowles says herself in her post “There is a good possibility I will be fired.” – the consequence of refusing to test her students.
Her Facebook plea was liked 74 times and shared 532 times as of Monday. Her plight has been picked up by a variety of news outlets.
And it appears her boss is not without sympathy. The Washington Post’s education blog carried a statement from Alachua County Superintendent Owen Roberts in which he says he’s met with Bowles personally, notes that parents praise her as an excellent teacher.
Roberts wrote: “I certainly appreciate her concerns regarding FAIR testing. I have said clearly and publically that I believe there is too much standardized testing here in Florida, and that much of it doesn’t offer a significant educational benefit for children.”
But FAIR test is the law and the district is “obligated” to administer it, he said.
Roberts has come to the same conclusion that the folks in Lee County did and the school board in Palm Beach County which did as well: Change will come when state leaders are convinced – and not just by teachers and school board members – but parents.
