Standardized testing has been a source of frustration and conflict for teachers, students and parents alike. Now in 2014, it appears that the frustration level is about to reach new heights and become a preeminent problem in the Palm Beach School District. 

    An increase in the number of tests, along with an increased rigor, has caused the public to draw the line and create anti-testing movements. Additionally, school districts across Florida have considered “opting out” of the state-mandated exams, an unprecedented, albeit rescinded, decision that the Lee County School District recently made. 

    Lee County was the first school district in the country to opt out of testing; however, the Lee County school board rescinded their vote less than a week after their initial resolve.  

    The Palm Beach School Board was also considering the possibility of opting out, but after much deliberation, the school board decided it would be too costly and “chaotic” to take that step.

   Opting out of the state-mandated standardized tests, a seemingly attractive option, comes with serious negative ramifications, most of those being tied to a loss of state and federal funding for the school district. Opting out of testing could also negatively affect the  letter grade of schools in the district, teachers salaries, and in the long run, property values in the county.

     As a result, Florida’s students will be facing a new “high-stakes” test in the  form of the Florida Standardized Assessment (FSA) that is replacing the FCAT this school year. 

   The FSA is based on the Common Core State Standards being implemented across the nation, having been adopted in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Common Core is a series of high-quality academic benchmarks that were created to provide all students with the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in college and in their future careers. 

    The only students that will still be required to pass the FCAT are those juniors and seniors who have yet to pass it. Passing FCAT will remain a graduation requirement for those students. The unfortunate juniors in that group will also be taking the new FSA this year. The FCAT was aligned with the state’s old standards, and since the Common Core standards were adopted FCAT will be phased out over this school year and the next. 

   One of the main differences between the two tests is that the FSA is  written response centered, while the FCAT was mainly multiple choice. The FSA is requiring students to give more written responses in order to show “higher order thinking skills” according to the Department of Education. 

   The test will be a mixture of traditional multiple choice questions and lengthier free responses that will require students to display competency in a range of skills from developing responses that use supporting evidence from various furnished articles to creating graphs. 

   The FSA is designed to be more challenging to students. Accordingly, the proponents of the new test believe the change is an effective way to prepare kids for college and set them on the road to becoming career ready. Mr. Matthew Shanosky, Olympic Heights math teacher, agrees: “Because it’s more rigorous, it makes the kids think more,” says Shanosky. “It’s not repetitive multiple choice anymore.” Shanosky does recognize the increased difficulty, marveling over how he has to teach Statistics to his Algebra 1 class of freshman.

   Changes are also coming to Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Over the course of its existence, College Board has revamped AP course structure every year in a process referred to as AP redesign. College Board states that the reason for the constant revision of course material is to align their courses with college level skills.

  College Board explains that redesigned courses will have “greater emphasis on discipline-specific inquiry, reasoning, and communication skills, cited in the science practices, historical thinking skills, and for world languages, the instructional goals identified by the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century.”

    As with any kind of change, the revision of AP courses does not come without controversy. Many teachers have to adapt their teaching styles and may face difficulty in obtaining teaching resources relevant to the new direction that their courses are moving. Students may struggle at first to adjust to the style and format of testing.

   Some AP teachers openly speak out against the modifications College Board has in store for course work.  Mr. Larry Krieger, a retired AP U.S. History teacher and founder of InsiderTestPrep, criticizes the 2014-15 AP U.S. History redesign framework as “a seriously flawed document that can and should be improved.” 

   Krieger notes that crucial historical figures, seminal documents and events have been omitted from the curriculum. Perhaps Krieger’s most hard-hitting criticism is that the new curriculum fosters a negative perspective of U.S. History, over-emphasizing a theme of European domination and repression of natives and blacks. 

   Even the statewide End of Course exams (EOC) are not immune to drastic change. The Algebra 1 and Geometry EOC are both being revamped to meet the new Common Core standards. Additionally, an Algebra 2 EOC is being added to the testing roster.

   And there may well be more – many more – EOCs on the way. According to the Sun-Sentinel, to meet the requirements of Florida’s teacher merit pay law enacted in 2011, the Palm Beach School District has begun the process of developing an additional 400 new final exams to be used in all grade levels. Basically, the legislation requires an EOC for every subject at every grade level.

   Despite the legislation’s requirement that the new EOCs be implemented this school year, the likelihood of that happening does not appear to be very high. Considering the lack of resources and time, the new EOCs will most likely not be ready this year. Even though school district officials say the tests are being developed, they are holding out hope that an extension will be granted by the state. 

   The changes and future additions to state-mandated testing are not sitting well with students and parents. The Palm Beach School District held several community meetings across the county, including one at OH on October 9, to allow parents to vent their frustrations and offer possible, feasible alternatives. 

  Senior Nicole Dow is among the frustrated and thinks testing will be detrimental to fellow students. “Making more EOCs puts too much stress on both teachers and students,” Dow claims. “Putting EOC pressure on the teachers makes them only care about teaching to pass the EOC rather than teaching to actually understand the materials.”

   Even the statewide End of Course exams (EOC) are not immune to drastic change. The Algebra 1 and Geometry EOC are both being revamped to meet the new Common Core standards. Additionally, ????????an Algebra 2 EOC is being added to the testing roster.

   And there may well be more – many more – state mandated district EOCs on the way. According to the Sun-Sentinel, to meet the requirements of Florida’s teacher merit pay law enacted in 2011, the Palm Beach School District has begun the process of developing an additional 400 new final district EOCs to be used in all grade levels. Basically, the legislation requires an EOC for every subject at every grade level.

   Despite the legislation’s requirement that the new EOCs be implemented this school year, the likelihood of that happening does not appear to be very high. Considering the lack of resources and time, the new EOCs will most likely not be ready this year. Even though school district officials say the tests are being developed, they are holding out hope that an extension will be granted by the state. 

   The changes and future additions to state-mandated testing are not sitting well with students and parents. The Palm Beach School District has been holding several community meetings across the county, including one at OH on October 16, to allow parents to vent their frustrations and offer possible, feasible alternatives.