Judge orders another hearing in testing lawsuit

A Tallahassee judge is going to hold another hearing on the lawsuit challenging the state law that prevents some school children from being promoted to the fourth grade.

Circuit Judge Karen Gievers said last week she may rule soon on the request to block the law. But on Tuesday, she scheduled an Aug. 22 hearing to hear motions from several school districts.

Parents from across the state say their children were held back in the third grade because they refused to take the state’s high-stakes standardized tests. The lawsuit states that the children should have been promoted because they got good grades and demonstrated they could read at grade level.

School districts and state officials have defended the third-grade retentions and even disputed the academic performance of some of the children.