A bill to cut back on standardized testing is headed to Gov. Rick Scotts office for signing after it passed through the Florida House on Thursday.
HB 7069 is a lengthy bill with many implications for Floridas education system, including eliminating the 11th-grade English-language arts Florida Assessment Test as well as the requirement to have end-of-course assessments on top of statewide standardized tests.
The bill received widespread support in the House, passing by a vote of 105-6.
As criticisms of Floridas high-stakes testing system have grown in recent years, legislators finally put their weight behind the measure to scale back on the impact of testing in many aspects of the states education system.
One of the biggest provisions: a pause of calculating and releasing the states "A" to "F" grades, a system implemented under former Gov. Jeb Bush, until a third party conducts a thorough investigation of the validity of the new Florida Standards Assessment.
State senators expressed concerns over the direction of Floridas accountability system when they passed their version of the bill in that chamber last week.
"There's too much damn testing going on in this state," said Sen.Tom Lee, R-Brandon, who harshly criticized the state's accountability system on the Senate floor.
The FSA has been at the center of the debate against high-stakes testing after a rocky roll-out full of technical glitches raised questions on whether it was, in fact, a valid way to measure student achievement.
Other provisions under the new legislation would make test results count for only 30 percent of teacher evaluations as well as significantly reduce testing to only take up 45 hours out of 900 hours of classroom time.
The bills passage wasnt necessarily done wholeheartedly, but legislators hesitant on the issue said it was at least a step in the right direction.
We need to go much further to reduce high-stakes testing in our schools," said Rep. Joseph Geller, D-Aventura, who said the bill was a good start.
Education reform groups seemed boosted by the news, seeing it as a positive sign for creating fewer and better tests in the Sunshine State.
With their vote today, lawmakers sent the resounding message that Florida will measure what matters -- student learning, said the Foundation for Floridas Future Executive Director Patricia Levesque. They voted to keep education transparent and provide teachers with the information they need to help students learn, while ensuring testing at every level is done thoughtfully. Florida lawmakers have shown it's possible to achieve fewer, better tests while continuing to measure student success."
The bill now heads to Gov. Scotts desk to be signed.
Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen
