ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – This will be the last school year that Florida’s students take the Florida Standards Assessments (FSA), Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday.
DeSantis held a news conference Tuesday morning with Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran and Speaker of the House Chris Sprowls in St. Petersburg to announce the official end of the FSA.
DeSantis said the FSA will be replaced with a progress monitoring system called the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (F.A.S.T.). He says the new progress monitoring will take hours instead of days, calling for 75% less testing and allowing more time for learning.
Miami-Dade Superintendent Jose L. Dotres released a statement saying M-DCPS recognizes the importance of progress monitoring and the critical role it plays in supporting student success.
“Since 2007, M-DCPS has used formative assessments to assist teachers in determining students’ needs and planning instruction. We look forward to receiving additional guidance from the Florida Department of Education on how these new assessments will affect school accountability,” Dotres said.
According to the governor, results from that test must be given to teachers within one week and to parents within two weeks so there can be immediate intervention if a student needs it.
Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, Florida will be the first state to have a full progress monitoring testing system, the governor said.
DeSantis made an appearance in South Florida last year, at which time he said the FSA testing “fails to provide timely information to parents,” as it finds students’ weaknesses at the end of the year instead of during instruction.
“We need to measure results, and we will continue to do it. We will continue to set high standards,” DeSantis said, adding that he believed the FSA was “outdated.”
School officials in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties have expressed their agreement with ending the FSA.