ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — During a visit to St. Petersburg on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill ditching current standardized testing practices in Florida schools.
He signed SB 1048 into law, effectively replacing the current Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) with progress monitoring tests throughout the year.
The governor held a news conference at St. Petersburg Collegiate High School where he explained that the change will provide more individualized feedback for students in a shorter period of time than the current standardized tests.
"We can get the same information from the FSA in a much shorter period of time and in a way that provides really quick feedback for parents, teachers and students," he said.
The bill will replace the one lengthy test at the end of the year with three shorter tests administered in the fall, winter and spring.
DeSantis emphasized that these shorter tests will give multiple opportunities for teachers to make changes toward students' improvement, rather than getting one set of test results at the end of the year when it's too late to address any issues.
"The FSA doesn’t give parents and teachers room to have those important conversations about what is best for the child's education. And, of course, by the time those conversations could even happen, you have a new school year and you have a new teacher," he said.
The governor explained that this current school year will be the last time the FSA is administered.
"Next year, Florida will become the first state in the nation to do a full transition to progress monitoring to inform school accountability," he continued.
DeSantis did want to make clear that "nothing in this legislation is going to change the fact that schools will be graded."
The Florida Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, said the law "does not reduce the amount of standardized testing that our students must endure, nor does it eliminate the big make-or-break test at the end of year."
"When the governor said he was reducing testing, teachers and parents saw a real opportunity to fix what’s wrong with how Florida assesses students. We imagined better outcomes for kids," FEA President Andrew Spar said in a statement. "This bill does not reduce testing but increases it. The bill does not focus on student learning or on providing teachers time to monitor and assess children’s progress.
"In fact, it probably will add more work for already overwhelmed teachers. Most basically, the bill fails students."
House Speaker Chris Sprowls and Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran joined the governor to tout his efforts in the education field, including boosting the minimum salary for teachers and being a proponent of in-person schooling throughout the pandemic.
St. Petersburg College President Dr. Tonjua Williams also shared her support for the progress monitoring bill during the news conference.
“So, what exactly does progress monitoring do? In my opinion as college president, it strengthens the pipeline. It helps students gain confidence, helps them be more prepared for post-secondary education whether they attend a technical college, a university, or the great 28 of the Florida College System," she said.
DeSantis mentioned the strong representation leaders from the Tampa Bay area have had in the Florida legislature this year.
"To see the performance of the Tampa Bay area, I mean, you've had a huge impact made for this region," he said. "This region really had, probably, unprecedented heft in the last two legislative sessions."
"You know, we're losing Chris Sprowls, we're losing some of the others, but we're regaining Tom Brady," DeSantis joked.
You can watch the full press conference below.