A changed bill to limit the time spent on standardized tests and modify teacher performance evaluations made its way through the Florida PK-12 Education Subcommittee on Wednesday.
SB 616, sponsored by Sen. John Legg, R-Lutz, would reduce assessment testing time to 5 percent of total school hours.
If a school district requires more than 5 percent of school hours to administer the tests, it must get written consent from parents before giving the test.
In addition, the legislation would modify teacher performance evaluations by requiring the student performance component to be at least 33 percent, the instructional practice component to constitute at least 33 percent, and the professional and job responsibilities component to constitute no more than 33 percent.
Fifty percent of teacher evaluations are currently based on student test performance.
Sen. Dwight Bullard, D-Miami, offered several amendments to the bill, one of which would have required school districts to use only paper and pencil exams until technical difficulties were worked out.
The Miami Democrats amendments were fresh on the heels of a rocky roll-out of the writing portion of this years Florida Standards Assessment test. As testing began this week, students in many school districts across the state were unable to take the assessment due to technical malfunctions leaving some unable to complete the test or log in at all.
As a result, Bullard and Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, who also sits on the Education Subcommittee, called for a repeal of the test until all the glitches were worked out.
We are calling on you to immediately suspend the administration of these tests and allow time for educators to work out the problems, instead of using our children as guinea pigs for a flawed system, they wrote in a letter to Gov. Rick Scott.
Only one of Bullard's amendments -- which would conduct Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to study cost-effectiveness of leasing Florida Standards Assessment test questions from Utah -- passed.
Other legislators expressed hesitations over any hasty decision-making based on this years assessment test.
I would suggest we slow down just a little, said Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee.
Montford said assessment tests should be used this year, but should not count toward measuring schools progress.
Members of the public expressed hesitation over certain parts of Leggs bill.
"I'm concerned about the kids, said Chris Quackenbush of Stop Common Core FL, questioning the proposed 5 percent cap on testing time, And I know you are too ... But has a cap on anything ever worked?"
Others in support of the bill seemed to believe it was a good step toward less testing in the Sunshine State.
"We should be working toward fewer and better tests in Florida, said Sara Clements of the Foundation for Floridas Future.
Reach Tampa-based reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen
