Lawmakers push tougher test scores

Higher standard may boost failures drastically, foes say

Florida’s key standardized tests, which already trip up more than 40 percent of those who take them, should be even tougher for students to pass in coming years, some House lawmakers say.

Reviving a debate from last year, they want to require students to show “proficiency” in order to pass Florida’s language arts and math exams, a move that could have far-reaching implications.

The percentage of 10th graders who, on their first try, would pass the test needed to earn a diploma, for example, could fall from 51 percent to 36 percent, state data shows. That drop assumes “proficiency” on Florida’s tests would be pegged to that standard on the tougher National Assessment for Educational Progress, or NAEP, exams.

Some state leaders tried unsuccessfully to make that connection early last year when Florida completed a scoring system for its new Florida Standards Assessments.

But others opposed the move, saying proficiency on NAEP is meant to be a challenging benchmark while passing state tests should require “satisfactory” but notquite-so stellar performances.

The State Board of Education set the FSA passing scores in January 2016 so that a 3 on the five-level exams was passing and a 4 was considered “proficient.”

The testing bill being pushed in the House (HB 773) would require a scoring system in which a 3 was proficient and, presumably, harder to attain than it is now.

The proposal is an effort to have an “honest conversation” about whether the current scoring system ensures students graduate from high school prepared for what’s next, said Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, a bill sponsor, during a House education panel meeting earlier this week.

“We should be striving to make our students proficient,” he said. “We should not be graduating students that are not at grade level.”

But Beth Overholt, a Talla-

FSA scores are used to help determine promotion to fourth grade, class assignments and whether students earn high school diplomas.

hassee mother active in parent groups’ opposed to high-stakes testing, told the House panel it should not support a measure that runs counter to the state board’s vote, which was based on input from teachers and administrators.

“This will result in many more students being retained as well as high school students not receiving their diplomas — all based on an arbitrary decision,” she said.

“We’ll have a lot more kids that fail the test,” Overholt said during a later interview, and then lots more who will need remedial classes. “This is going to explode costs for the districts.”

The bill is backed by the Foundation for Florida’s Future, one of former Gov. Jeb Bush’s influential education advocacy groups. The foundation also pushed for passing scores on the FSA to be set so they matched the NAEP, using language similar to what Diaz used this week.

“Speak up for honesty!” the foundation urged in late 2015 as the State Board discussed what scores students would need to pass FSA exams, given in third grade through high school.

In the foundation’s view, the NAEP — sometimes called “the nation’s report card” — is the “gold standard.” So if NAEP tests show fewer than 40 percent of Florida students are proficient in reading and math, the state shouldn’t set the scoring system for its tests so that more than 50 percent passed.

That creates an “honesty gap,” the foundation said, and a way to “mask the number of students unprepared for success in life.”

That argument did not win over most of the State Board, however, nor Education Commissioner Pam Stewart in 2016. They argued, as did many local educators, that the national exams — taken by a sampling of students in each state — should not be the barometer for Florida’s tests, which are taken by most students and used for high-stakes purposes.

FSA scores are used to help determine promotion to fourth grade, class assignments and whether students earn high school diplomas.

The House bill unanimously passed the pre-K-quality subcommittee by a 14-0 vote. Senate leaders have their own testing bill, but it does not include the NEAP-proficiency provision, so it is not clear yet if the provision will have enough support to pass the full Legislature.

The House proposal, if it became law, would kick in when Florida signed its next testing contract.