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MARY ESTHER, Fla. — Today, Governor Ron DeSantis visited Florosa Elementary School in Okaloosa County to highlight groundbreaking legislation signed on Tuesday that eliminates the high-stakes Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) test and replaces it with progress monitoring. Senate Bill 1048, sponsored by Senator Manny Diaz, Jr. and Representative Rene Plasencia, makes Florida the first state in the nation to transition fully to progress-monitoring for school accountability. Starting with the 2022-2023 school year, Florida students will have three short check-ins instead of multi-day, end-of-year, high-stakes tests for English Language Arts and Mathematics. This new system of testing will benefit students, teachers, and parents by allowing for informed instruction in a timely manner, that can be tailored to each student’s individual needs.
“This has been the year of the parent, and parents have said that the FSA is not working for their students,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “We heard the call and are replacing it with timely check-ins that show how students progress in real-time. This will inform instruction in the classroom and at home. I am proud to sign this bill and know it will make a difference for Florida’s students.”
In accordance with the newly signed legislation, this school year will be the last year for the FSA and next year, Florida will be the first state in the nation to fully implement progress monitoring-based school accountability. The 2022-2023 school year will be the new baseline for school accountability, and school grades will resume the following year.
This change maintains the proven, successful components of Florida’s school accountability that has seen Florida’s students grow over the last two decades, with a focus on students’ readiness and growth, especially in closing achievement gaps, but provides that information to students, parents and teachers in a more timely and actionable manner.
This legislation builds on a long list of achievements in education that Florida has made since 2019:
- Florida has already risen to third in the nation for K-12 education according to Education Week. Florida eradicated Common Core and did so by elevating the quality and alignment of learning opportunities through creating Florida’s B.E.S.T. (Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking) Standards.
- Governor DeSantis, Commissioner Richard Corcoran, and the Legislature have continually secured the highest ever K-12 public school and per-pupil spending totals in Florida’s history.
- Marking the last few years as “The Year of the Teacher,” Governor DeSantis has elevated Florida as one of the top states in the nation in terms of starting teacher pay by securing approximately $2 billion in pay increases for teachers.
- With Commissioner Corcoran, Governor DeSantis provided a roadmap to make Florida’s standards number one in the nation, streamlined testing, and massively invested in early learning, literacy, and civics education like no other state in the nation.
- Florida was the first state in the nation to reopen schools in August 2020 and guarantee families had an in-person instructional option five days a week.
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