Florida is in the midst of testing season, and this year, pubic outcry regarding the amount of standardized testing for Florida students has garnered statewide headlines.  In response to some complaints, Gov. Rick Scott (R) suspended 11th grade English Language Arts testing as it was deemed redundant to what students had already learned in 10th grade.

Other groups claim that, in general, Florida students are over-tested.  Florida BTA, a teachers' organization, posted a claim online as to the actual amount of time that students spend taking tests.  They said this:

Florida students take "an array of standardized high stakes tests which eat up as much as 45 school days per year."

Our partners at PolitiFact took a look at the teachers' association's claim.  PolitiFact reporter Joshua Gillin says that their claim rates FALSE on the Truth-O-Meter.  Gillin says that the group may be taking their cue from Mr. Spock in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" when, referring to the time needed to make repairs, he said (using a pre-arranged code) that hours could seem like days.

"The main thing that we have to remember here is that there are several different kinds of tests," said Gillin.  "By that, I mean we could be talking about statewide assessment tests, district tests, and tests admininstered by individual schools.  This means that there are different average times for testing, based on what kind of test the students are taking.  However, the statistics we found show that students had the potential to go through around 44 hours of testing, which is a far cry from 45 days of testing."

Gillin stresses that testing durations are different from district to district, and because of individual district choice, there can be no single number of hours that apply uniformly to students across the state.  Because the research shows that those testing hours are around the 45 hour mark per year and not 45 days, the Florida BTA claim rates FALSE on the Truth-O-Meter.

 

SOURCES:  Florida students tested for 45 days per year?