Parents call testing in pandemic ‘ridiculous,’ ‘not fair,’ raise fears
Asked to comment on a narrow piece of Florida’s school testing rules, hundreds of parents and educators instead used an online survey to plead for the state to cancel exams this spring or to at least waive consequences if students skip them or do poorly.
“I believe that Florida needs to let go of testing this year,” one Orange County educator wrote in response to the Florida Department of Education’s request for input.
“It’s not fair to these kids after this terrible last year!!” wrote someone else.
“Treating this school year as though it was normal is ridiculous,” wrote a parent.
The state’s key testing season begins Monday in many school districts, with third graders taking the reading section of the Florida Standards Assessments, or FSA. It runs into May with students in third grade through high school slated to take FSA reading and math tests and state exams in science and social studies.
Because of the pandemic, more than 30% of Florida’s public schools students are studying online from home. Many of their parents are upset the state wants to bring them in for testing. Others argue even students on campus have faced disruptions and hardships this year and high-stakes testing doesn’t make sense.
“I think all testing should be waived. I believe there is too much to start with and with this year being such a mess testing should be cancelled. Permanently!” a parent wrote.
Local school leaders have pleaded with the state to waive testing consequences — including rules that tie test scores to fourth-grade promotion and high school graduation — and allow exemptions for children who aren’t on campus.
Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran has stressed that he views testing this year as a critical gauge of academic progress. But he said last week he will make a decision soon on how to use the results that have “student interests ... at heart.”
The state in mid-March asked for input on a proposed waiver to federal requirements that the state test 95% of its students.
But most of the more than 650 comments the Florida Department of Education responded, not to that rule, but to state laws that mandate testing and using results for high-stakes decisions, such as fourth-grade promotion and high school graduation, according to the list of the comments the Orlando Sentinel received through a public records request.
Parents who have kept their children home this school year to avoid the coronavirus wrote that notices from schools telling them to bring their children in for in-person testing left them baffled and angry, and some said they would not comply. State law does not allow the exams to be given anywhere but on campus.
“I have underlying medical conditions... so it is not safe for us to have our son go to school... Now, I’m supposed to bring my son in for his testing and hope for the best?” one parent wrote.
Still another explained that her son has asthma, which prompted the decision that he would attend class from home. “So everything I did all year through was a waste of time, because the state thinks it is necessary to do testing in school and there is no way around this.”
Another agreed in-person testing made no sense. “We haven’t been handling virtual school this long just to spread COVID for a standardized test.”
An Osceola County mother said her seventh-grader is doing online lessons because his father has significant health problems, and they don’t want him on campus for testing. “He can’t take any chances of getting sick and bringing it home to his dad.”
The parent of a Dr. Phillips High School student in Orange said the state was putting families in unnecessarily tough positions. “She’s not vaccinated yet, because she doesn’t meet the state’s requirements (yet) — however, the school is informing me she needs to test in person, because the state is mandating it. I’m not comfortable with the contradictory nature of the state’s requirements because they affect my daughter’s health and safety.”
Others said testing consequences, such as withholding diplomas or retaining third graders, were unfair this year.
A Polk County parent said her 12th grader struggled with online classes, then went back to campus but has been sick with COVID-19 and lost class time to quarantines. The teenager has not passed the exams required for graduation and her parents fear she might not.
“I believe the graduation rate for the class of 2021 is going to be significantly less than prior years due to the impact of COVID 19,” the parent wrote. “We as parents are concerned how this is going to impact our children’s future! PLEASE DO THE RIGHT THING AND WAIVE STANDARDIZED TESTING!”
Many parents of third graders shared similar views.
“This year has been difficult for kids and we must consider their mental health in all of this,” wrote a Seminole County parent of a third grader.
A handful of those who commented, however, supported testing and even the consequences.
“Please do not cancel this assessment. There are students who have put in the work and deserve to be recognized for it,” wrote one parent.
But most wanted the tests scrapped or at least for the state to “hold harmless” students if they do poorly or don’t take them.
“There has been chronic absenteeism and very low grades caused in part to the challenges of learning and adapting to the pandemic,” a teacher wrote. “This is not the year to test students. They are depressed, exhausted and burnt out.”