ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County school leaders announced Tuesday that they will not use grades for some FSA end-of-course math exams because the state cannot validate them until next school year.
Superintendent Barbara Jenkins told Channel 9's Michael Lopardi that she is very frustrated by the testing problems with which students have struggled this year.
Jenkins said the year has been challenging.
The math exam grades are supposed to be 30 percent of the student's overall grade, but not this year.
Students taking the FSA algebra 1, 2 and geometry tests will get a break this year. The Department of Education is telling school districts they don't have to count the final results. But not everyone is happy.
"It's pretty upsetting, because they worked so hard for it," said parent Deanna Yates.
The math results were expected in June. But a new state law requires the tests to be validated by the state first, and that process may not be complete until September, when the next school year is already underway. Therefore, Orange County schools decided to calculate overall grades without those results.
"If you have a state test that has to go through some kind of validation, it makes sense that you would not harm students while that validation still needs to take place," Jenkins said.
The announcement primarily affects students in eighth, ninth and 10th grades, and it's the latest snag in a year of testing changes, problems and glitches.
Jenkins said she warned the state that it would happen.
"We said, The timing is not appropriate and you're heading for a train wreck,'" Jenkins said.
Adding to the confusion: Each individual district can decide whether to include the final exam grades or revise grades later when results arrive.
"It's obvious after this ridiculous year of test delivery that the test wasn't prepared. The Department of Education wasn't prepared to deliver it," said Cindy Hamilton of Opt-Out Orlando.
The Department of Education said more than 200,000 students took the algebra 1 test this year.
The announcement does not affect the biology or U.S. history exams.
WFTV
