FL testing a mess. Girl finished essay, there was no submit button. Logged in on another computer..

[madfloridian]

essay was lost.

That is just one of the problems not being covered by our news media. These are the high stake tests that judge our students, teachers, and schools.

More from Bob Sikes Scathing Purple Musings blog.

Pam Stewart, FLDOE Are Keeping the Truth From Floridians on FSA Collapse

From an anonymous Florida teacher:

Today I got to see the frustration and anger on a kids face. She had finished her essay and was ready to submit, but there wasn’t a submit button. The test was saved and then paused. Moved to another computer. Logged in and …. Nothing. All her work was gone. Case opened with FSA. The young lady was really angry. Who could blame her? She refused to “rewrite the essay” or even “submit the test” which was now blank. This is where testing has gone too far. How many students have had to deal with this statewide?

From Orlando Sentinel reporter Leslie Postal: Florida’s new online testing system lost the writing exams of more than 300 Central Florida students who took the test this month. Most of the essays have since been recovered, but about 50 remain missing.

There should be none missing.

The Miami Herald adds more:

State ignores big question: Was student test fair?

“The test was not hacked as the attackers never gained access. Since student responses were not accessed, there is no reason not to use the test results,” Meghan Collins, the department’s communications director, wrote in an email.

Collins repeatedly responded to questions about the validity of the tests by saying only that the department was “proud” that 90 percent of students had successfully taken the writing portions of the new assessments as of Friday.

But critics argue that a post-test analysis is vital because the stakes of the results are so high. The test will be used to determine whether high schoolers can graduate, and whether teachers can keep their jobs.

Parents and educators have plenty of doubts after the sputtering launch of the Florida Standards Assessments, a new, tougher and highly controversial replacement for the old Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

How about the other 10% like the student who could not find the Submit button and whose essay was lost?

There should be lots of outrage.

[Spacemom]

1. These tests are designed to fail.

Students fail, teachers fail, schools fail.

So there can be an excuse to inch closer to privatization. The goal is not to educate children, but to make money.

[Vincardog]

2. The tests are designed to make money fro the testing companies and provide ammunition to the

charter school frauds.

[Starry Messenger]

3. k&r

Guess they'd better fire her teacher for low test scores, since that is the way these things work.

[Brickbat]

4. Almost every time my children have been tested, there's been "a problem with the computer."

The screen freezes, computers aren't available, whatever. Over and over again.

[madfloridian]

5. Students can't graduate without passing test.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-lost-tests-fsa-writing-20150313-story.html

In Seminole, the exams of 160 students – out of about 16,500 – were initially lost, but 110 were recovered quickly, said Kelly Thompson, the district's testing coordinator

Twenty five took more time, and another 25 are still missing, she said.

Though the number is small, it's far bigger than in past years, she added, when the state used a different testing contractor and a different computer-based system.

In Seminole, exam recovery involved AIR finding a test and then having a student return to the school testing center to either finish it or confirm it was complete and submit it, she said.

"It's not ideal," Thompson added.

A passing score on the combined 10th-grade language arts exam is needed for high school graduation, so retesting seems a necessity, Thompson said.