State tests don’t count this year, and Miami-Dade seniors get in-person graduations

One week into testing season, the Florida Department of Education on Friday issued an emergency order that suspended using this year’s Florida Standards Assessments results for accountability measures like graduation and promotion or retention.

The statewide order is similar to last year when schools closed at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the testing season was subsequently canceled. Tests are still ongoing this year, however they are not mandatory and there are no consequences. Local school districts have the flexibility to determine graduation and promotion or retention on a case-by-case basis.

“We heard you loud and clear, and now the state has heard you loud and clear,” said School Board member Luisa Santos at a press conference. “Today is a sigh of relief for all of us.”

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho urged parents to make the “personal choice” to send their children in for testing anyway. He said that data helps inform educators about a student’s progress ahead of the district’s “expansive, aggressive” summer learning program.

“Without consequences, that data only helps us understand better where students are and helps us determine the strategy to accelerate every single student toward their potential academically, pedagogically, socially and emotionally,” he said.

Carvalho had another grand announcement: Every high school in Miami-Dade County will have an in-person graduation this year held between June 1 and June 9. The district will use three locations around Florida International University and the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair that provide for enough space for social distancing. More details will be published over the weekend, he said.

The state’s emergency order was welcome news for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which had advocated for that relief and flexibility in a March letter penned to the state’s chancellor of public schools. School Board chair Perla Tabares Hantman and Carvalho thanked the state for an extended testing window but said that measure did not go far enough.

“We must choose compassion over compliance in working with our families, many who are suffering not only from disruption to the educational system, but also from societal factors inherent in a minority-majority community like Miami,” the letter read.

School districts made their case to the state that the inequity among students learning in person and online, plus constant quarantines that have jolted both students and staff in and out of school, and the variability from district to district would make for an uneven testing field.

Students in Miami-Dade took FSA writing tests this week. Carvalho said he did not know how many students, particularly those learning from home via My School Online, showed up for tests. He said he polled a “reasonably large” high school, an elementary school and iPrep Academy, where he is principal, and found that there were low absentee rates for online students.

The flexibility afforded by the state also allows the districts to opt in to earn a school letter grade if at least 90% of the student body is tested. Asked how many schools want to opt in, Carvalho said school principals were still directed to aim for a 95% participation rate.

School districts were also given the flexibility to evaluate teachers without using standardized test data from students.

High school students also caught a break. The emergency order extended deadlines to earn qualifying SAT and ACT scores for Bright Futures scholarship funding to Dec. 1, and volunteer hour requirements were forgiven.

Mary Keinath, whose three children have been learning from home all year, led an effort among parents in Miami Beach area schools to write letters to the state in support of seeking a federal waiver that would hold Florida harmless from federal accountability measures.

In a press release, the state said it received 777 emails and 11 letters of support. The application for the federal waiver was submitted Friday.

Keinath said her children did independent work while their peers were tested this week, and their attendance was counted.

“Happy to hear that our children will be held harmless this year,” she said in a text. “I am very happy that our lawmakers are listening to parents and supporting us with this decision.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 7:19 PM with the headline "State tests don’t count this year, and Miami-Dade seniors get in-person graduations."