FL-DOE: Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry EOCs will NOT count for 2014-2015 school year

Today the Florida Department of Education released an important memorandum entitled; ‘Preliminary Technical Assistance on House Bill 7069’, where FL-DOE states; “For the 2014-2015 school year only, because of the unavailability of independently verified statewide assessment results in Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry, the statutory requirements to include these results in the final course grade are inoperative. As a result, school districts should calculate final course grades and make promotion decisions without regard to the 30 percent requirement that typically applies.”

I am most pleased that Florida Educational Commissioner Pam Stewart and her team understood what students’ and school districts’ have been facing due to the numerous state assessment issues that Florida has struggled with this school year.

While I am relieved for our students regarding these End of Course Exams (EOCs), many other State Assessments will still be used for determining students’ grades, course requirements, and/or graduation requirements.

Further, I am greatly concerned that neither HB 7069 nor any other action today has relieved districts from the requirements of using these same State Assessments for determining teacher/administrators evaluations or school grades. We still need either the Governor or FL-DOE to suspend the use of these assessments for any performance pay requirements for teachers and administrators, as well as suspend the use of these assessments for school accountability/school grade for the 2014 – 2015 school year.

To read the entire ‘Preliminary Technical Assistance on House Bill 7069’ memorandum, follow this link: https://thomastalks.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/HB-7069-TA-Memo-5-18-15.pdf

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