Parents listen up.
The Florida Department of Education is proposing tougher rules for students using an alternative test to get their diplomas.
Last year, more than 35,000 students in the class of 2017 graduated using alternative exams, according to the Florida Department of Education (FDOE) .
These are the current requirements a Florida High School Senior needs to graduate:
- 24 credits
- 2.0 GPA
- Pass the state FSA Reading test
- Pass the state Algebra 1 test
If students can’t pass the Reading or Algebra 1 exams, there are alternatives, but starting Aug. 1 that could change.
For FSA Reading, a student can substitute that exam with one of the following scores – a 430 on the SAT or a 19 on the ACT.
The proposed changes from state education leaders are increasing the score on the SAT to a 480 and bringing down the ACT score to a 18 but adding an English category.
For Algebra 1, a student can take the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test, or P.E.R.T,, if they’re not able to pass the state test.
But the FDOE wants to remove the P.E.R.T. test instead having the student score a 16 on the ACT or a 420 on the SAT, if they’re not able to pass the Algebra 1 exam.
“Unfortunately, if students meet all the other graduation requirements with the exemption of a test score, then they're going to receive certificates of completion and they're going to have to keep coming back to a school to take the ACT/SAT or attempt to take the algebra FSA assessment as an adult student until they meet their requirements to get their diploma,” says Nicole Binder, who is the director of assessment and accountability for Hillsborough County.
The biggest issues with removing P.E.R.T., she says, are cost and opportunity.
The test is just $1, and all high students are able to take it as often as they want.
“The ACT or SAT are $35 or $55 for every time a student takes it. The PERT can be administered at a school site as much as needed, as long as there is remediation between attempts but the ACT/SAT those are dedicated days and schools can't just choose to offer the ACT/SAT students have to register for those assessments,” says Binder.
The district, along with principals like Gary Brady, are concerned about a decline in graduation rates if the changes go through.
“School grade has 10 components, one of those is graduation rate. Absolutely, if a school's graduation rate dropped and they were on the border of an A to a B or a B to a C, certainly that will have an impact,” says Brady.
But students still have a chance, the district is encouraging them to take the P.E.R.T. test now, just in case. They can be grandfathered in, if the test is eliminated come August 1st.
So how did we get here?
The Buros Center for Testing has served as Florida's testing consultant for more than a decade.
After they did a study on P.E.R.T., they determined it didn't cover the "rigor and complexity" of Florida's math standards.
The State Board of Education will make their final decision in May, but anyone wanting to voice their concern about the changes can do so on its website.
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