Ludicrous game plan

As a researcher who has analyzed student-assessment data for 26 years, I was stunned to read John Padget’s Sept. 21 opinion piece, Raising the academic bar, extolling the virtues of the Florida Standards Assessment, which he asserts will make “Team Florida” competitive by setting high standards.

Continuing with the sports analogy, Padget, as “owner” of the team, would expect it to play in the Super Bowl by taking daily measures of each player’s body-mass index, while giving them second-hand uniforms, a dilapidated stadium and the fourth-lowest-paid coach in the country.

While such a strategy might seem ludicrous, it accurately depicts the plight of Florida’s public-school system.

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Ludicrous game plan."