As Florida seniors struggle to graduate, lawmakers eye a ‘temporary fix’
About 4,000 Miami-Dade public high school seniors are at risk of not graduating next month. But following a last-minute change to a sweeping education bill on Tuesday, that could be changing.
The Florida House of Representatives voted to ease test score graduation requirements that were scheduled to take effect this year. The change — led by House Education and Employment Chairman Ralph Massullo, a Republican from Citrus County, north of Tampa — drew bipartisan support as lawmakers had heard concerns about thousands of students struggling to meet the new graduation standards.
The proposal — tucked in HB 1537 — would delay the requirement for students to get a higher SAT and ACT test score, which students can use instead of their 10th grade assessments to meet graduation requirements, by at least two years. The measure would also allow students graduating this year who have not yet earned a passing score on their Algebra 1 and 10th grade language arts state tests to qualify for a diploma using last year’s SAT and ACT requirements.
This year’s requirements, if not delayed, for example, calls for a higher Reading and Writing SAT score and requires students to pass both reading and English, not just reading, on the ACT, as reported by the Tallahassee Democrat.
Much of the conversation on the House floor centered on the concerns about the interruptions and setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed schools and presented testing challenges during hybrid learning — an issue superintendents across the state referenced in their requests to push back the increases.
READ MORE: Florida lawmakers push alternatives to SAT tests, AP courses with millions in budget
“This is the thing that (students) need to get over the finish line,” Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, said Tuesday. The proposed changes address the concerns raised across the state regarding students’ upcoming graduations.
Massullo called the change a “temporary fix” to the problem.
Miami-Dade school officials said Superintendent Jose Dotres has also been advocating on behalf of students. The Class of 2023 is “the last class to have had significant disruptions to their high school experience as a result of COVID,” officials said.
The issue could come up again in the House as early as Wednesday. It would then be sent to the Senate.
Post-pandemic scores
The Florida Board of Education adopted the higher test score requirement in 2018 – before this year’s graduating class began high school – and was intended to go into effect last school year.
However, citing concerns stemming from learning loss during the pandemic, the Florida Board of Education delayed the implementation for one year.
READ MORE: Graduation rates dipped in South Florida public schools, post-pandemic testing a factor
Statewide standardized assessment requirements, however — historically necessary to graduate — had been waived for two years during the pandemic, but were reinstated last school year. As a result, the state’s graduation rate declined by 2.8 percentage points from 90.1% in the 2020-21 school year to 87.3% in the 2021-22 year.
In Miami-Dade schools, the graduation rate declined for the first time in five years during the 2021-22 school year to 88.2%, a decrease of 1.9 percentage points from 90.1% during the previous year.
Miami Herald reporter Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.
