{"id":17669,"date":"2013-03-27T11:33:13","date_gmt":"2013-03-27T15:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=17669"},"modified":"2013-03-27T11:33:14","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T15:33:14","slug":"house-speaker-says-new-tests-may-not-be-ready-by-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/27\/house-speaker-says-new-tests-may-not-be-ready-by-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"House Speaker Says New Tests May Not Be Ready By Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_17671\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 232px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/27\/house-speaker-says-new-tests-may-not-be-ready-by-deadline\/kids-on-computers\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-17671\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17671\" title=\"kids on computers\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/03\/kids-on-computers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"232\" height=\"296\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">clipart.com<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students will take the new Common Core assessments online. The assessments are still being developed, and school districts are scrambling to get the necessary equipment.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>House Speaker Will Weatherford says Florida needs to be ready in case the test accompanying new education standards isn&#8217;t ready by a spring 2015 deadline.<\/p>\n<p>The standards, known as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.corestandards.org\/\">Common Core State Standards<\/a>, are scheduled to be taught in every Florida grade beginning with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fldoe.org\/schools\/ccc.asp\">the 2014-15 school year.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The standards are a new way of teaching \u2013 students will delve deeply into fewer topics than they do now, and they\u2019ll have to explain their answers. It also means the end of <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/06\/florida-students-will-spend-at-least-eight-hours-a-year-taking-new-standardized-test\/\">most Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the Department of Education is looking at a potential delay in implementing a new, accompanying test.<\/p>\n<p>Education Commissioner <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/07\/three-questions-for-orange-county-superintendent-on-common-core\/\">Tony Bennett is working on a \u201cPlan B\u201d<\/a> in case some districts don\u2019t have the proper equipment by 2014 or the new assessment, known as PARCC, or\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/01\/08\/why-states-are-designing-two-tests-for-common-core-standards\/\">Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers<\/a>, aren\u2019t ready.<\/p>\n<p>Speaker Will Weatherford said he hopes Florida won\u2019t need a delay, but it might be necessary.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is a possibility that it\u2019s not going to be ready for prime time,\u201d Weatherford said. \u201cSo if it\u2019s not, we\u2019re going to have to have a Plan B. So I think it\u2019s prudent of Commissioner Bennett to kind of have a backup plan just in case.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would like to be able to fully transition into Common Core,\u201d he said. \u201cWe think it\u2019s going to be a great way to assess how our students are doing, compare them to other students from around the country, and kind of have some alignment with our standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Weatherford said lawmakers are working closely with Bennett.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/20\/a-digital-divide-between-state-board-and-lawmakers-education-budget\/\">A Digital Divide Between State Board And Lawmakers&#8217; Education Budget<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/15\/how-florida-lawmakers-would-change-high-school-graduation-requirements\/\">How Florida Lawmakers Would Change High School Graduation Requirements<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/08\/senate-president-says-florida-should-meet-deadline-for-new-education-standards-testing\/\">Senate President Says Florida Should Meet Deadline For New Education Standards, Testing<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/01\/1-28-ipads.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/topic\/technology\/\">Classroom 2.0: Why Florida Schools Are Going Digital<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Even the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foundationforfloridasfuture.org\/default.aspx\"> Foundation for Florida\u2019s Future<\/a> \u2013 the group formed by former Gov. Jeb Bush and heavily promoting the standards \u2013 accepts that a delay may be necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Executive Director Patricia Levesque said the delay centers around the assessments that are still being developed. Kids will take them online, and <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/03\/20\/a-digital-divide-between-state-board-and-lawmakers-education-budget\/\">many districts don\u2019t have enough computers or the necessary Internet bandwidth<\/a> right now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think that there\u2019s some flexibility, probably, with delaying for a year that the tests are given online,\u201d Levesque said. \u201cWhat\u2019s more important from the foundation\u2019s perspective is making sure technology becomes an integral part of how our students learn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Levesque thinks the state needs to catch up with technology that&#8217;s ever-present in 2013 \u2013 multiple laptops, iPads and similar devices in many homes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to be moving toward an education system where every child is learning everyday with technology, with the teacher assigning assignments through the digital device,\u201d Levesque said, \u201cwhere students are able to sit in a classroom and download and look up information when the teacher poses a question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to rethink the way we are delivering education because technology is a part of our lives in every other way,\u201d Levesque said. \u201cIt needs to be a part of our education system as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>House Speaker Will Weatherford says Florida needs to be ready in case the test accompanying new education standards isn&#8217;t ready by a spring 2015 deadline. The standards, known as Common Core State Standards, are scheduled to be taught in every Florida grade beginning with the 2014-15 school year. The standards are a new way of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[785,1157,680,62,643,809,1050,452,769],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}