Broward Superintendent wants lawmakers to ensure ‘full transition’ from standardized testing

Broward Superintendent Vickie Cartwright pressed lawmakers Thursday to follow through on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ promise to end annual standardized testing for Florida’s students.

Last month, DeSantis said he intends to end the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) and replace it with a progress monitoring program. On Wednesday, the Broward legislative delegation held a workshop with the Broward County School Board to discuss the school district’s agenda for the 2022 Legislative Session. Cartwright attended and discussed the planned changes, which are still in their early stages.

“We expect that the Legislature will address the Governor’s new testing proposal, ending the statewide FSA annual administration, allowing for a full transition to progress monitoring,” Cartwright said. “While many educators and districts have been advocating for such a change, we have yet to see the full proposal, and we have not been involved in conversations at the state level related to this proposal.”

The state has said the proposed new program would be more customizable for students and relay information more swiftly to school officials. Those assessments would take place three times a year, and results be made available during the school year. Proponents say those changes would allow teachers and parents to adapt to students’ needs more quickly.

Cartwright added that the Superintendents’ Association did submit to the state a list of superintendents who would like to be involved with the formulation process as the plan is finalized. Cartwright’s name was on that list.

The state’s largest teachers union, the Florida Education Association, supported the DeSantis plan despite often being a foe of the Governor. Other school districts have similarly expressed support, and Cartwright said Broward is behind a change to the state’s assessment regimen.

But she asked lawmakers to fully break from the existing FSA system while formulating Florida’s new monitoring program.

“We ask that the Legislature ensure that it is indeed a full transition to progress monitoring and not just the same statewide test that’s currently being administered once a year repeatedly being administered three times a year, which would continue to have a detrimental impact on our students and our teachers,” Cartwright said.

Lawmakers will work through legislation to solidify those changes during the 2022 Session, which officially starts in January.