School Board member Beth Narverud addressed concerns that are voiced by parents at nearly every Board meeting about the State-mandated testing at last week’s regular school board meeting. While the district has reduced some of the testing requirements, Narverud stated that the district does not have the authority to refuse to comply with the State testing requirements. Rather, Narverud suggested that parents meet with state legislators to express their feelings, whether it is a group road trip or another means, “so that they can make the decisions that we would be able to follow up on,” she said.
Attorney Dennis Alfonso, who attended the School Board Attorney’s meeting last week, commented on the “opt-out movement”, and the student portfolio that could be considered instead of mandatory testing. He admitted that the Department of Education’s recent memo was not clear, and may have added more confusion to the issue. However, school districts are required to administer the mandatory tests, and students are required to take them.
Chairman Matt Foreman asked Alfonso if his direction to HCSB was accurate, and if they are following the law. Alfonso stated that the portfolios are designed to be an alternative after the testing, based upon “extraordinary circumstance,” and not as a substitution for the test.
The Department of Education requested HCSB provide an explanation of the district’s process and how their procedures are in compliance with the State’s rule and Florida Statute. This was provided to the DOE last week and the State’s written response is pending. When it is received, the district will provide the DOE response to the public. Narverud reaffirmed the Board’s position that they hear the concerns, and that the Board is following up on them. Dr. Romano agreed with parents, but the district must follow the law.
The state has created a program to assist school districts in implementing the third grade student portfolio for good cause promotion. FDOE’s “Just Read, Florida!” office has already partnered with the school districts of Flagler, Charlotte, Collier and Sarasota counties to provide teacher guidance on the student portfolio.
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The State law 6A-1.094221 or Alternative Standardized Reading Assessment and Use of Student Portfolio for Good Cause Promotion, effective 6/23/16 states,
” (3) To promote a student using a student portfolio as a good cause exemption there must be evidence that demonstrates the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Standards in reading equal to at least a Level 2 performance on the grade three statewide English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment. Such evidence shall be an organized collection of the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Standards that are assessed by the grade three statewide English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment. The student portfolio must meet the following criteria :
(a) Be selected by the student’s teacher,
(b) Be an accurate picture of the student’s ability and only include student work that has been independently produced in the classroom,
(c) Include evidence that the standards assessed by the grade three statewide English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment have been met. Evidence is to include multiple choice items and passages that are approximately sixty (60) percent literary text and forty (40) percent information text, and that are between 100-700 words with an average of 500 words. Such evidence could include chapter or unit tests from the district’s school’s adopted core reading curriculum that are aligned with the Language Arts Florida Standards or teacher-prepared assessments.
(d) Be an organized collection of evidence of the student’s mastery of the Language Arts Florida Standards that are assessed by the grade three statewide English Language Arts Florida Standards Assessment. For each standard, there must be at least three (3) examples of mastery as demonstrated by a grade of seventy (70) percent or above on each example, and,
(e) Be signed by the teacher and the principal as an accurate assessment of the required reading skills.