The Florida House is the first out of the gate with a comprehensive bill that is meant to kill the FCAT, replace it with end of course testing, and beef up graduation requirements. The Orlando Sentinel blog the Gradebook (and this Sentinel article) and Paul Cottle’s blog Bridge to Tomorrow note that there are science exams on there beyond just Biology.
Contingent upon funding provided in the General Appropriations Act, including appropriation of federal funds, the Commissioner of Education shall establish an implementation schedule for the development and administration of statewide, standardized end-of-course assessments in English/Language Arts II, Algebra II, chemistry, physics, earth/space science, United States history, and world history.
Paul says that the Senate was supposed to file a companion bill the same time as the House. That apparently didn’t happen. Why? Last year the Senate had some hangups with similar proposed bills. Are we looking at the same problems this year?
A similar proposal last year passed the full House but died in the Florida Senate, amid concerns about cost and creating barriers to high school graduation.
