The Florida Department of Education has issued new restrictions about what a test proctor may do before, during, and after administering the FSA suite of test assessments, including grade level math and reading tests as well as End-of-Course exams.
Clear as mud according to social media chatter of the last three days. Exactly what do they mean by this? Time for a long read through the testing manual.
Here’s a gem for students and parents. Pay attention to the penultimate statement; FLDOE wants to be clear that their dire threats about discussing the test does not extend to a parent’s conversation with their child:
if the students were not sitting next to one another.
Here’s a tidbit worthy of pondering. Why do we have an Algebra 1 first-time test and a separate Algebra 1 retake test? Given the draconian consequences for a student who cannot pass the Algebra 1 test (no diploma), is the retake test ‘dumbed down,’ (apologies to struggling students, GOT is not disrespecting you but the phrase gets across the idea) to keep too many students from failing to graduate because the political pressure would be too much for Florida’s politicians to bear?
From this point, we move into the scripts for each test. Since they tend to be the same except for necessary customization (for example, ear bud tests for reading; calculator for math), GOT is skipping ahead to his particular script for Geometry EOC. If you want to read the manual for yourself, you can find it at fsassessments.org or click the embedded link.
How to provide accommodations is covered in detail. Here’s an example for when a student may have the directions read aloud:
That’s enough for now. GOT will post further results from his investigation such as new training videos or FLDOE statements. He would like to conclude with a popular song (well, in his day) about sheriffs, but is afraid someone would miss the joke and take it as a threat.
Grumpy Old Teacher 