ORLANDO, Fla. — High school seniors may still be able to graduate if they fail the Florida Standard Assessments, according to a new emergency order issued Friday by the state of Florida.
What You Need To Know
- As FSA testing begins, state Department of Education issues emergency order
- Order says students expected to graduate in 2021 can get waiver on passing FSA
- 3rd-graders can also advance; decisions will be made by district, order says
- RELATED: Parents Worry About FSA's Impact on Next School Year as Testing Begins
The Florida emergency order makes a concession that parents, students, and schools alike have requested for months.
The order says high schoolers should be expected to pass the exams. However, for students expected to graduate in spring 2021, school districts are authorized to waive the requirement, if the student's academic record shows a "comparable level of achievement."
Those determinations would be made on a case-by-case basis.
Here are the sections in @EducationFL Emergency Order that describes how students can be promoted without the passing grade on the FSA. @MyNews13 #N13COVID19 pic.twitter.com/I3Olur5mX5
— Eric Mock (@EricMockTV) April 9, 2021
Third-graders also may still be move on to the fourth grade if they don't pass the tests.
The order allows third grade students to be promoted to fourth grade even if they don't achieve a level 2 or better on the English Language Arts FSA, as long as the district can prove the student is performing at that level.
It was relieving news for 9-year-old Ethan Griffis, his mother Brianne said.
"On Tuesday morning he was nauseous and throwing up because of his anxiety," she said.
Brianne said Ethan was worried that if he didn't pass the FSA he wouldn't be allowed to go to the fourth grade.
"He even woke up twice Monday night and Tuesday night like, 'Is it time yet? Did I miss it?" And he's nine," she said.
The district would have to provide "reliable evidence of a student's performance" through a good-cause exemption or other means.
Brianne said she would never try to push her child into the next grade if he wasn't ready, but everyone who works with Ethan, who is on the Autism spectrum, says he's ready to move on.
"With the discussions with the teachers and the tutors and all the extra services he gets at school, he is on target to pass fourth grade," she said.
Districts are also allowed to determine final course grades in classes with end-of-course exams, where the scores affect that final grade. The final grades would only be determined by a student's performance in the course for the 2020 to 2021 school year.
The new order also pushes back the deadline for students to get the required SAT or ACT test scores needed to qualify for a Bright Futures or Florida Medallion Scholarship. The deadline is extended to December 1, 2021.
Schools in Florida will also be able to keep their designations before the pandemic began, including schools of excellence, schools need improvement, low-performing or persistently low-performing schools.
“This has not been a normal school year, and a test should not cost kids the chance to graduate or be promoted. However, teachers did not get the same kind of consideration. Test scores still will be allowed to impose very real costs on them through their evaluations. The educators who have served Florida’s students throughout the pandemic also deserve to be shown some grace," Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar said in a released statement.