IIn “Denial” About Florida’s Test-Based Accountability System and “Acting As If” Nothing’s Wrong | Scathing Purple Musings

IIn “Denial” About Florida’s Test-Based Accountability System and “Acting As If” Nothing’s Wrong | Scathing Purple Musings:

IIn “Denial” About Florida’s Test-Based Accountability System and “Acting As If” Nothing’s Wrong

by Bob Sikes

From the editors of Bradenton Herald:

The state’s top education officials are in deep denial about the flaws in the system, with one suggesting the discovery of the school grading errors is proof the accountability system works.
That sort of spin boggles the mind. The state should have reviewed the scores for errors before releasing them to the public, not afterward.

And according to Miami Herald reporter Mary Ellen Klas, the investigation only took place because of intervention by Governor Rick Scott’s chief of staff.  Test-dependent school grades weren’t the only disaster. Another test trauma occurred last spring with FCAT Writes.

Even before the school grades came out in early July, state Education Commissioner Gerard