Meta Description: The Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) are standardized exams designed to evaluate students' comprehension of educational subjects at each grade level as stated in the Florida Standards.

 

For the past six years, the Florida Standards Assessments examinations have guided schools in assessing whether students have mastered language arts and math, should be promoted to the next grade, and should finish high school. However, DeSantis and the state education commissioner will now request that the FSA be phased out starting next school year.

 

Governor DeSantis announced that the Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) will be administered for the last time this school year.

 

The governor described the FSA test as ineffective, claiming that it takes days to administer and that it cannot be customized.

 

Instead, he argues, progress tracking three times a year will be replaced by shorter exams that may be done in hours. According to DeSantis, the new program, the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (F.A.S.T.) plan, will monitor student achievement and stimulate individual growth.

 

According to Banskota, those in charge of the end of the FSA program have spoken with teachers, parents, and students about the transition and its effects.

 

She claimed that some students were not going to graduate high school because they did poorly on FSA tests. That is why this new program focuses on "approaching student [and] parent needs in order to help them understand what they need to learn", said Banskota. She also expressed that FASTP is based on the results of previous standardized testing assessments - with some changes addressing concerns over previous exams.

 

The new plan, FASTP was determined after numerous meetings with the states' officials, parents and teachers.

 

The new test is going to be administered in the fall for many grades and could be offered online.

 

Florida commissioner of education Dr. Marilyn Jones said that "this is going to provide greater consistency, more accuracy for our students and we can do this in a more timely fashion".

 

Textbooks will not be affected by FASTP changes. Students will receive their textbooks from the same distributors, according to DeSantis. The new program will also work with all states to provide consistency across Florida's tests and districts'. 

For now, all schools, parents and students must wait until the official release of FASTP in September.

 

The Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) tests have been given by the state since 2005 to determine the learning of students in grades 2-12. It covers four subjects, or "domains", of knowledge in English and Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. The test takes 3–5 days to administer.

In 2011, the state began offering a computer adaptive test (CAT), which is a redesign of the FSA in order to make the testing easier for schools and administrators. According to DeSantis, "A lot has happened just over the past 30 years" that has made computers better at evaluating if a student is ready for high school. This emphasizes that "we're not moving backwards in any way. We're just taking advantage of modern technology that is far better than what we had before".

 

When studying for the FSA tests, students can employ a variety of tactics to assure their success. Practice resources for the Florida Standards Assessments can be found here (FSA). The purpose of these FSA practice test tools is to acquaint teachers and students with the types of questions that the FSA asks. In the 2016–17 school year, students in the 6th grade, 9th grade, and high school will take FSA exams. Grade 3 students' math and ELA results will not be collected after 2016. Grade 4 student results will not be included after 2018 and 5th grade student results will no longer be included after 2018.