Florida PTA pushes for Gov. DeSantis to waive standardized testing

It’s been a difficult year for our children, and now teachers and parents are worried standardized testing will hurt them more. That’s why the Florida Parent Teacher Association is pushing Governor Ron DeSantis to waive the testing.

The big concern is that, if these tests are enforced and the grades are not waived, it can have huge impacts on both teachers and students. Kevin Daly, president of the Teachers Association of Lee County says testing is never a bad thing, and there is value in the results. But this year more than ever, Daly knows the results yielded by these test scores will not reflect well, which he says simply isn’t fair.

“If we use them like we have used them in the past—third graders, no promotion; high schoolers, no graduation; staff evaluations with school grades and things like that—I think we are going to see, just by the nature of the conditions that exist, an inaccurate viewing or an inaccurate measurement of what everybody is and what they can do,” Daly said.

Daly explained something districts refer to as “hold harmless,” which means these tests could be used diagnostically, but would not yield any consequences.

“As a teacher… we invented testing, right?” Daly said. “We invented the concept of testing, so clearly there is value from the results. And maybe this year the value is simply diagnostic, and to help kids get back what they have lost and get them to where they should be with extra help and assistance.”

The only way we could see changes made to standardized testing is through the state.