Fight the Failure

Dear Ed Inquiry, 

I am an educator in Panama City, FL. I teach high school science. In our school district, the school board has made the EOC’s 30% of the student’s final grade. Can the school board fail the students if they refuse to take the test? I want to help in this fight against all of this testing. I want to be apart of the solution. We can fight this and offer a better option.

Sincerely,

Fight the Failure

Dear Fight the Failure,

It’s not just your district. In 2010, the Legislature authorized the Florida EOC Assessments when it passed Senate Bill 4. The requirements for each graduating class have changed so many times since then, but finally settled on the Algebra I EOC being the only one on which the students have to receive a passing score in order to receive credit for the course.  However, currently, the Geometry EOC, Biology EOC, and US History EOC count as 30% of the grade for the course for high schoolers as you mentioned. So, yes, a student can be failed based on that one score.  Click this FLDOE link for a wide variety of questions regarding EOC’s and other state tests.

Opt Out Orlando is a wonderful resource. Also, join ConversationED’s free webinar on August 24 at 4pm ET to learn the ins and outs of boycotting tests and steps to take to start a revolution in your own district.  

Although we don’t have all the definitive answers just yet, we are not giving up this fight!  Please subscribe to our newsletter to get breaking news updates every Friday (you can do that from the webinar link above). We are working tirelessly to stop this insanity for our kids’ sakes.

Sincerely,

Ed Inquiry