Students & Teachers:

What role can the district play in reducing the stress on students from high stakes testing?

What can the districts do to lessen the damages from harsh testing and accountability sanctions?

What is the plan to find alternative approaches for capable students who do not respond well to the high-stakes agenda?

 

Lost Class Time:

How much of the district Progression Plan is statutorily mandated and how much is a result of district choices?

What are the average school hours/days per year spent on test prep and testing?

 

Testing

Who mandates each test – Federal, State or District?

Are some individual schools making the decision to count benchmark test results toward final grades?

Other districts are cutting tests, why isn’t this district doing the same?

What are test scores used for?

 

Cost

What is the cost to tax payers for the administration of all the additional testing?

What is the cost of individual tests, cost of technology, cost of test security, administration and scoring?

 

Efficiency

How much time passes between tests and results?

Are results useful to teachers/students/parents in a timely manner?

 

Technology:

How far away is the district from full digital capacity for every student? Are there plans to move to wireless?

How often in recent years have high school student tests been interrupted due to system failure?

Did the Florida Legislature fund the mandate for every district to be fully digital by 2015?

 

On-line Student Readiness

Are there plans to teach typing/keyboarding skills within the context of a dedicated course?

Has the district determined what age is appropriate for children to learn to type? What is the protocol for this?

 

Portfolios

Some districts are actively using portfolios to promote students. For example, one district used portfolios 365 times in a year while another used then 49 times.  Why the disparity?

Are districts allowed to design their own portfolio requirements or is the content state mandated?  Please explain.

 

Third Grade Retention/other mandatory retention grades

How many students were retained last year in third grade? Other grades?

How do these numbers compare to state figures?

 

Parent/Teacher/Student Access

Do parents/teachers/students have access to review actual tests that are not FSA?

Do parents/teachers and students receive detailed descriptions and results of every test?

Do parents discuss and receive the testing schedule from their child’s teacher?

 

Privacy

Who outside the district has access to a student’s personally identifying information?

Are there different restrictions for vendors regarding personally identifying information (PII)? What are they?

Is student PII and data shared outside the district for any reason, including marketing?

Are parents able to request a copy and/or examine the content of their child’s data file?

Are parents able to remove sensitive or incorrect data regarding their child?

Are photos of children included in this data?

Who in the district and/or school has access to the student data that is collected?